At least 10 Palestinians, including a child, were killed in Israeli drone strikes and a military incursion in Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank on Tuesday, January 21. The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) are calling the major operation against the camp the “Iron Wall.”
Israeli media reported that the goals of the operation, which will last for at least several days, are to “preserve the IOF’s freedom of action” in the occupied West Bank, neutralize the infrastructure of resistance fighters and eliminate “imminent threats”.
According to media reports, Netanyahu decided to launch “Operation Iron Wall” in a bid to convince his Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to not resign from the government. Smotrich had attempted to block a Gaza ceasefire deal and threatened to quit once it was reached, considering it a defeat for Israel.
Launching the operation seems to have satisfied Smotrich, who wrote on his account on X, on Tuesday: “After Gaza and Lebanon, today, with God’s help, we began a shift in our security policy in Judea and Samaria and a campaign to eliminate terrorism in the region.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office that the operation aims to strengthen security in “Judea and Samaria”, which is the biblical name for the West Bank. Netanyahu also claimed that the operation that he described as “extensive and significant” was launched “against the Iranian axis wherever it sends its arms, in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Judea and Samaria.”
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has faced sharp criticism for its role in the lead-up to the Israeli assault. While its security forces had recently deployed in Jenin as part of a truce, they reportedly withdrew before the Israeli incursion, raising accusations of complicity. Palestinian resistance groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, condemned the PA for tightening the siege on Jenin in coordination with Israel, with Hamas stating that its actions ‘exceeded all moral and national redlines.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the Palestinians slain on Tuesday were identified as Khalil Al-Saadi (35), Khalaf Jamhawi (26), Hussein Abu al-Hayja (38), Yousef Abu Awwad (42), Mutaz Abu Tabeekh (16 years), Ahmad al-Shayeb (43), Ameen al-Asmar (57), Raed Abu es-Sbaa (53), Abdul Wahhab al-Saadi (53) and Mahmoud Jaradat (29).
Tightened restrictions on movement across the West Bank
While Israel is carrying out this fierce aggression on Jenin, the restriction on movement has been tightened in the West Bank. With gates being installed and military checkpoints being established at the main entrances of governorates and cities.
In addition, Israeli authorities reportedly requested Jerusalem ID holders to leave West Bank areas, according to local sources. This suggests that the operation in Jenin may soon expand to other parts of the West Bank. On Wednesday, Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, stated that “Operation Iron Wall” marks a shift in the IOF’s security strategy in the West Bank.
Earlier in January, Smotrich threatened to escalate violence in the West Bank after a number of Palestinian resistance fighters killed three Israeli settlers near the illegal settlement of Kedumim, which is located close to the Al-Funduq village, in the northern occupied West Bank. The attack was launched in retaliation for the 15-month Israeli genocide in Gaza before the ceasefire deal was reached.
“Al-Funduq, Nablus and Jenin need to look like [Gaza’s] Jabalia,” Smotrich stated then. He also expressed his skepticism that the Palestinian Authority (PA) would succeed in crushing resistance in the West Bank during its one month and a half siege of Jenin refugee camp. The siege ended on Friday, January 17, after the PA accepted a truce with resistance groups in the camp.
“Those who trust the Palestinian Authority to maintain the security of Israeli citizens are waking up to a morning when terrorists are again slaughtering Jewish residents,” Smotrich commented in that regard.
The Palestinian Authority takes part in the assault instead of protecting its people
As part of the truce agreement, the resistance groups, mainly the Jenin Brigades, accepted the deployment of the PA’s security forces in the main square of the camp. However, the PA’s troops reportedly left some of their positions around the camp before the arrival of the IOF on Monday.
For many, the withdrawal of the PA’s security forces further exposes its “Operation Protect the Homeland”, which was recently launched to allegedly prosecute “outlaws” in Jenin refugee camp. Their withdrawal from the camp is believed to be another indicator that the PA is helpless in protecting its citizens, and that its security forces only function when it comes to maintaining their 20-year-old security coordination process with Israel.
The PA’s collaboration with Israel in “Operation Iron Wall” became even more blatant on Wednesday, as the PA’s security forces shot dead a young Palestinian man, Mohammad Shadi Al-Sabbagh, in Jenin refugee camp. On Wednesday there was also a siege imposed by the PA’s security forces on Al-Razi hospital, during which they arrested a number of injured people, who were receiving medical treatment at the hospital.
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad condemned the PA’s behavior in statements issued on Wednesday. Hamas said that the PA’s acts “exceeded all moral and national redlines.” Whereas, the Islamic Jihad accused the PA of being “explicitly complicit” in the Israeli assault on the camp, adding that the PA served Israel by tightening the siege on Jenin refugee camp for over 40 days, and “paved the way for the IOF to raid the camp.”