Israel presses on with hunt for West Bank militants, locals flee

The large-scale raid of the Jenin camp, which began Monday, has claimed at least 10 lives so far

Israeli troops pressed ahead with their hunt for Palestinian militants and weapons in a West Bank refugee camp Tuesday, after military bulldozers tore through alleys and thousands of residents fled to safety. The two-day Palestinian death toll rose to 10.

The large-scale raid of the Jenin camp, which began Monday, is one of the most intense military operations in the occupied West Bank in nearly two decades. It bore hallmarks of Israeli military tactics during the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s and came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing pressure from his ultranationalist political allies for a tough response to recent attacks on Israeli settlers, including a shooting last month that killed four people.

In Tel Aviv, Israeli paramedics said at least four people were wounded when a car careened into pedestrians on a sidewalk. Police spokesman Eli Levi told Kan public radio that the incident was a deliberate attack, and that a civilian shot and killed the driver at the scene. The Hamas militant group praised the attack as “heroic and revenge for the military operation in Jenin.”

Earlier in the day, rubble littered the streets of Jenin and there were reports of damage to shops. Columns of black smoke periodically punctuated the skyline over the camp in the northern West Bank city, long a Palestinian militant stronghold. Jenin Mayor Nidal Al-Obeidi said that around 4,000 Palestinians had fled the Jenin refugee camp, finding accommodation in the homes of relatives and in shelters. Residents said there was no water or electricity in the camp. Meanwhile, Palestinians observed a general strike to protest the Israeli raid.

UN in contact with Lebanese, Israeli officials over Hezbollah

The UN peacekeeping force on the Lebanon-Israel border said on Monday its commander is in contact with officials in both countries over tensions regarding two tents set up by the militant Hezbollah group last month. Israel had filed a complaint with the UN in June claiming that the tents were set up several dozen meters inside its territory. The areas where the tents were erected in Chebaa Farms and the Kfar Chouba hills were captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war and are part of Syria’s Golan Heights that Israel annexed in 1981. The Lebanese government says the area belongs to Lebanon.

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