06 July,2023 07:56 AM IST | West Bank | Agencies
The intense operation caused widespread damage. Pic/AP
Israel withdrew troops from a West Bank militant stronghold Wednesday, but warned that its most intense military operation in the occupied territory in nearly two decades could be repeated. Twelve Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in the two-day raid.
Residents of the Jenin refugee camp emerged from their homes to find alleys lined by piles of rubble and flattened or scorched cars. Shopkeepers and bulldozers started clearing the debris. Thousands who had fled the fighting began returning.
Kefah Dabayyah, a 33-year-old Jenin refugee camp resident, said that he and his family had returned on Wednesday to find widespread destruction. "Roads were destroyed and many houses were affected, glass from windows was everywhere," he said. His home was not hit, but there was no water, electricity or internet service.
The army claimed to have inflicted heavy damage on militant groups in the operation, which included a series of airstrikes and hundreds of ground troops. But it remained unclear whether there would be any lasting effect after more than a year of heavy fighting in the West Bank.
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Ahead of the withdrawal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to carry out similar operations if needed.
The Israeli military, on Wednesday, struck two sites in Gaza in response to the rocket fire on the southern region hours earlier. Warplanes struck "an underground weapons workshop used by the chemical unit of the Hamas terror group and a site for processing rocket components", Israel said, adding that the strike was in retaliation.
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