Israel on Tuesday carried out a drone strike in Jenin, amid a campaign by the Palestinian Authority to clamp down on terror factions in the northern West Bank city.
The Palestinian Authority health ministry reported at least six dead in strike, including a teenager.
The IDF released a statement confirming it carried out the attack in a joint operation with the Shin Bet, without immediately providing further information.
The strike was in the Jenin refugee camp, which has been overtaken by various armed groups over the past year.
It was the first strike that the IDF has conducted in the camp where the PA’s own security forces have been operating for roughly a month, trying to clamp down on terrorist activity.
The Israeli strike risks undermining the PA effort, analysts and its security apparatus warned.
“The pre-planned intervention … thwarts all efforts being made to maintain security and order and restore life to normal,” said Anwar Rajab, spokesman for the Palestinian forces, in a statement.
“It reflects the occupation’s premeditated intentions to disrupt every national endeavor aimed at protecting our people.”
A member of the Palestinian security forces stands at a roundabout in the Jenin refugee camp, in the northern West Bank, December 29, 2024. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)
Palestinian security forces entered Jenin in early December and set up checkpoints around the city and adjacent refugee camp, hoping to strengthen the PA’s position before a shakeup of Palestinian politics that is expected once the ongoing Gaza war sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 terror onslaught ends.
The operation has deepened splits among Palestinians in the West Bank, where the PA enjoys little popular support but where many fear being dragged into a Gaza-style conflict with Israel if terror groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad strengthen their hold.
At least 13 people have been killed in Jenin since the counterterrorism mission began, including six Palestinian security officers and one gunman, officials say.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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