Israeli forces have killed nine Palestinians during a raid in the north of the occupied West Bank in the deadliest single day in the territory in years, prompting Palestinian militants to fire rockets from the Gaza Strip and Palestinian leaders to cut security ties with Israel.
A 61-year-old woman and a male civilian were among the dead, the Palestinian health ministry said, and about 20 more people were seriously injured in the violence on Thursday morning. The seven other casualties were claimed by various Palestinian militant groups, and two more people were killed in clashes in Ramallah and East Jerusalem later in the day.
The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank and works alongside Israel to contain militant activity, announced on Thursday night it was suspending security cooperation with the Israeli government – a step it has taken on a temporary basis in the past.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers arrived at daybreak at several entrances of the Jenin refugee camp, a militant stronghold in the north of the Palestinian territory, said Sakir Khader, a Palestinian-Dutch film-maker at the scene. Armed Palestinians shot at an Israeli armoured vehicle disguised as a commercial van, at which point the IDF returned fire and a fierce four-hour gun battle ensued, causing widespread damage, he said.
“I was stuck in the middle of the firefight for hours,” Khader said. “It was crazy. There were snipers and drones and they used a bulldozer to block off a street. It destroyed lots of cars and a public meeting spot.
“At the hospital there are mothers looking for their sons … Everything is still very tense. I have been coming to Palestine all my life and I have never seen something like this.”
The raid’s death toll is the highest in a single operation ever recorded by the United Nations since the international body’s records began in 2005.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group in control of the Gaza Strip, along with the smaller group Islamic Jihad, promised a response to the Jenin violence. In the early hours of Friday, six rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel that were intercepted by missile defences, the Israeli military said.
There was no immediate claim for the rocket fire or reports of injuries. The IDF responded by conducting bombing raids on what it said were rocket-making sites in central Gaza.
UN and Arab mediators have been left scrambling to prevent the violence from escalating, with diplomats saying late on Thursday that negotiations were being held with Israel and Palestinian factions across the West Bank and Gaza Strip in an effort to calm the situation.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the country was not looking for escalation, though he ordered security forces “to prepare for all scenarios in the various sectors”.
The IDF said it conducted the unusual daytime operation in Jenin, which ventured deep into the camp, because of intelligence suggesting a cell linked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad was planning to carry out imminent attacks against Israelis.
The army also denied firing teargas at a nearby hospital after video emerged showing children in the paediatric ward choking and coughing. Teargas had probably wafted inside the hospital from the clashes nearby, it said. There were no Israeli casualties.
Thursday’s bloodshed is the latest development in Operation Breakwater, a nine-month-old Israeli military campaign that has targeted Palestinian factions in the northern West Bank city and nearby Nablus on a near-nightly basis. It was launched in response to a wave of deadly Palestinian terrorist attacks last spring.
The operation has contributed to the highest death toll in the occupied West Bank since the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, concluded in 2005, with about 150 Palestinians and 30 Israelis killed last year, according to rights groups. Another 30 Palestinians, among them fighters and civilians, have been killed so far in 2023.
As large funeral processions in Jenin got under way on Thursday afternoon, Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, declared three days of mourning and ordered flags at half mast. A general strike was also declared across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, and by lunchtime hundreds of people had headed towards Israeli military checkpoints to protest.
At the Beit El checkpoint near Ramallah, soldiers fired teargas at the demonstrators, some of whom threw stones and set fire to tyres. Three Palestinians in the area were reportedly shot and seriously injured, according to local media.
“It is the same story again and again. The occupation does not stop killing us, so we will not stop resisting,” said Nour, a 22-year-old student who wrapped her face in a black and white keffiyeh to protect against the teargas.
Tensions in the decades-long conflict have soared as a result of the escalating violence, and recent polling suggests that support for the dormant peace process has reached an all-time low on both sides.
The recent election of the most rightwing government in Israeli history is expected to inflame an already volatile situation. Members of the new Israeli coalition have pledged to accelerate the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank – a practice that negates the possibility of a two-state solution – and loosen the rules of engagement for soldiers and police.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken is due to travel to Egypt, Israel and the West Bank next week to discuss the situation.
“With both Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the secretary will underscore the urgent need for the parties to take steps to deescalate tensions in order to put an end to the cycle of violence that has claimed too many innocent lives,” state department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.
The United Arab Emirates, China and France have also asked the UN security council to meet behind closed doors on Friday over the violence, diplomats said.
