Firefights erupted in Jenin in the northern West Bank on Thursday between gunmen and Palestinian security forces following the theft of vehicles belonging to the Palestinian Authority, according to AFP journalists in the city.
The intense exchanges of fire began around 9:30 p.m. and followed the deployment of members of the security forces around the Jenin refugee camp, which is adjacent to the city and a stronghold for terror groups in the West Bank, according to the journalist.
Witnesses reported that the Palestinian security forces set up roadblocks on routes leaving the camp.
Tensions were running high in Jenin earlier in the day after a group of armed men seized two vehicles belonging to the PA and paraded through the streets waving Islamic Jihad flags.
In a statement, General Anwar Rajab, spokesman for the security forces, said “a group of outlaws opened fire on the headquarters of the security services” and stole two vehicles.
He said the security forces would “recover the vehicles and hold accountable anyone who committed this act.”
Jenin today… Hamas and Islamic Jihad have hijacked PA security vehicles and are patrolling the streets of the city in the middle of the day! This is how weak Abbas is. If he doesn’t step down immediately and allow reforms, then instead of getting back the keys to Gaza from… pic.twitter.com/KNBB9PtsqM
— Samer Sinijlawiسامر السنجلاوي (@SSinijlawi) December 5, 2024
Tensions between the PA and terror groups appear to have been exacerbated by recent arrests by the security forces.
At a press conference inside Jenin camp, Mahmud Abu Talal, spokesman for a collective of local armed factions, said the PA had “abandoned its people in the most difficult circumstances.”
He rejected the label of outlaws and accused the PA of “carrying out a continuous operation to undermine those who protect their people.”
Jenin has long been a bastion of Palestinian terrorist organizations and was the focus of a major Israeli raid launched at the end of August.
Violence in the West Bank, already increasing, has surged since the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel in October 2023 that started the ongoing war in Gaza.
