At least 10 people have been killed in the raids, and more than 40 wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Dozens have been arrested, Palestinian officials told the Wafa news agency.
Jenin has long embodied militant Palestinian resistance in the West Bank — to both the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian Authority — providing fertile ground for armed groups. Conflict there intensified sharply during the war in Gaza, when local officials say more than 800 Palestinians were killed in West Bank clashes with Israeli forces and settlers.
Israel mounted a 10-day raid into the West Bank in August and September that demolished homes, shops and roads, and killed 39 people — most of them in Jenin — according to Palestinian officials. And last month, Palestinian security forces launched an assault of their own in Jenin against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Now Israeli soldiers are back in Jenin, but this time appears to be different.
Israel’s latest war with Hezbollah in Lebanon ended eight weeks ago, its 15-month war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip reached a cease-fire on Sunday, and some Israeli units have withdrawn from both war zones. That leaves the military free to concentrate on the West Bank, and its leaders say they are determined to do so.
On Monday, Israel Katz, Israel’s defense minister, told military commanders, “The battle against Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank is now at the top of the military’s and Israel’s priorities,” according to a statement from his office.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, made clear on Wednesday that the West Bank offensive — which Palestinian officials said had killed 10 people so far and wounded more than 40 — would continue for days at least. That reflects the lessons Israel has drawn from the brutal Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 people and touched off the war in Gaza.
“We have to learn from Oct. 7, and not let terror groups regroup and rearm and plan terror attacks from a few hundred meters from us,” Colonel Shoshani said.