Israeli forces killed three people and detained at least 14 others in an overnight raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.
The military said that the Jenin raid had targeted “terrorism” and was part of a broader operation in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority’s news agency, Wafa, said the Israeli forces had stormed two houses in Jenin, resulting in “violent confrontations.” The agency reported that a 26-year-old man had been killed and added that three people had been injured and homes and vehicles damaged.
Jenin, a more than 70-year-old refugee camp that is now a crowded neighborhood, has long been a bastion of armed resistance against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Israeli military raids, though common for years, have become far more frequent since the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been detained in the West Bank raids, which Israeli officials describe as counterterrorism operations against Hamas and an extension of their war against the armed group in Gaza.
Deadly violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank has also reached record levels since Oct. 7, according to the United Nations.
This week, the International Court of Justice in The Hague started hearing six days of arguments over Israel’s “occupation, settlement and annexation” of Palestinian territories, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
It is the first time the world’s highest court has been asked to give an advisory opinion on the issue, which has been the subject of years of debates and resolutions at the United Nations. The U.N. General Assembly asked the court to review the legality of Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories more than a year ago, before Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Adam Sella contributed reporting from Jerusalem.