At least seven Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on the Hersh Al-Saadah neighborhood in Jenin on Friday, July 5. Israeli occupation forces besieged a house in the neighborhood and targeted it with an Energa anti-tank rifle grenade amid clashes with Palestinian fighters, reported to be members of Jenin Brigade, affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement’s military wing, the Saraya Al-Quds Brigades.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the seven people killed in the raid as Ahmad Al-Amouri (20 years old), Qusay Hazouz (23 years old), Fouad Ashqar (25 years old), Yassin Al-Aridi (30 years old), Mohammad Jabareen (54 years old), Hammam Hashash (23 years old), and his brother Hareth Hashash (19 years old).
The body of Hamam Hashash was reportedly confiscated by Israeli occupation forces. According to Adalah, a Palestinian human rights organization and legal center, Israel is the only country in the world that follows the policy of confiscating human remains, which is a violation of the international convention prohibiting torture and cruel and inhumane treatment of human beings.
Ahmad Al-Amouri, who was among the seven men killed in the raid, is the brother of Jamil Al-Amouri, the founder of the Jenin Brigade, who most attribute with the rejuvenation of armed resistance in the occupied West Bank. Jamil was killed by the Israeli occupation in an attack on Jenin in June 2021.
Jenin has been a key target of Israeli attacks since the Israeli invasion of Jenin refugee camp in 2002 during the second intifada, in which 52 Palestinians were killed and an entire district of the camp was destroyed, making more than 4,000 Palestinian refugees homeless. Two decades after the 2002 invasion of Jenin, the Israeli occupation is still unable to exterminate armed resistance in the West Bank. Now, as armed resistance brigades have multiplied in the north during the last three years, the extermination of Jenin as a resistance stronghold has been even more difficult.
Israel unable to stop arms from reaching resistance
Israel has also struggled to stop the flow of weapons to Palestinian brigades. While a significant number of weapons are stolen from the Israelis themselves, the Israeli army also claims that weapons are smuggled to resistance fighters in the West Bank from Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon.
In April 2023, Israel arrested Jordanian Member of Parliament, Imad Al-Adwan, at the Allenby Bridge crossing, who was allegedly attempting to smuggle 12 machine-guns and 270 other types of firearms. Al-Adwan was handed over to the Jordanian authorities one month after being arrested by Israel, and may face up to 15 years in prison as his parliamentary immunity was revoked.
In June 2023, the Jordanian authorities arrested three nationals on charges of supporting the Palestinian armed resistance by smuggling weapons from Jordan to the West Bank. The detainees are Ibrahim Jabr, Huthaifa Jabr and Khaled Majdalawi, who were detained by the authorities for more than one year without a trial and appeared before Jordan’s State Security court for the first hearing on Tuesday, July 2.
Another challenge Israel is facing is with locally manufactured firearms. The Carlo gun is one such firearm, manufactured in small workshops within the Palestinian territories. It is believed to imitate the design of a Swedish Carl Gustaf submachine gun with various styles and layouts. It can be easily produced with everyday household items.
Despite receiving USD 3.8 billions of dollars in military aid a year from the United States, Israel is still unable to crush the resistance of the Palestinian people. While it has been carrying out a genocide, killing nearly 40,000 Palestinians and imposing a famine, the Zionist state has been unable to achieve its military objectives. Its failures in the West Bank, where it has virtually unrestricted control over the territory, are another indicator of its inability to subjugate and suppress the Palestinian struggle for liberation after 76 years of Israeli occupation.
