Palestinian youths run for cover amid clashes during an Israeli military operation in Jenin city in the occupied West Bank, on July 3, 2023. Israel has stepped up operations in the northern West Bank, home to Jenin city and its adjacent refugee camp, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups where there has been a spate of attacks on Israelis as well as attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian communities. AFP
An official statement said that Ishtaye condemned the Israeli military offensive on the city and its refugee camp on Monday, which has claimed the lives of at least eight Palestinians and injured 100 others.
Ishtaye made the remarks during a weekly meeting of the Palestinian Authority cabinet held in the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to the statement.
"Israel is attempting to wipe out the Jenin refugee camp," Ishtaye told the meeting, adding that "the Palestinian people will not surrender to this aggression, but they will resist it until the demise of the criminal occupation."
Ishtaye called for an immediate stop of the aggression in Jenin and demanded that Israel be punished.
An Israeli army bulldozer drives through Jenin in the occupied West Bank during a military operation on July 3, 2023. AFP
Palestinian eyewitnesses and security sources said that Israeli army forces, backed by armored jeeps and bulldozers, stormed the city of Jenin and launched more than 10 airstrikes from manned drones and helicopters at several buildings in the area.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a press statement that eight Palestinians were killed, including three who were killed in the airstrikes, and 100 others were injured, 10 of whom were in critical conditions.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called for an urgent meeting of the Palestinian leadership to discuss the ongoing Israeli military assault on Jenin and its refugee camp, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Since January, 24 people, most of them Israelis, have been killed in a series of attacks carried out by Palestinians, and more than 180 Palestinians, including children and women, were killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers, according to official figures.
In Gaza, Palestinian militant groups, mainly Hamas and Islamic Jihad, warned on Monday that Israel's continued military offensive against Jenin and its refugee camp would lead to a wider escalation of tension.
"We are following up on the barbaric aggression against Jenin," the chamber of joint military operations, which comprises nine factions in the Gaza Strip, said in a statement.
The militant groups vowed they would respond to the raid in an "appropriate way and place."
"The armed resistance in all arenas will not allow the enemy to encroach on our people in Jenin," said the statement.
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