Chief of Staff of the Occupation Army: We will continue military operations in Jenin

The Chief of Staff of the Israeli occupation army, Herzi Halevi, announced on Thursday that his forces will continue to carry out a series of military operations in the Jenin Governorate in the northern West Bank, which has been witnessing Israeli aggression for the third consecutive day. This came during a session to assess the situation in Jenin, with the head of the General Security Service (Shabak) Ronen Bar, in which military officials participated.

On Tuesday, Halevy announced his resignation from the Chief of Staff, confirming his intention to end his position on March 6, 2025, after acknowledging the failure to fully achieve the goals of the war in the Gaza Strip, and taking responsibility for the failure to prevent the attack of October 7, 2023. On the same day, the Israeli occupation army announced that it, the Shin Bet and the Border Guard had launched a military campaign to “thwart terrorist activities in Jenin,” according to its claim, and called it “Iron Wall.”

During the session, Halevy said: "We are preparing for a series of military operations in the Jenin camp that will move us to another place, and we will not allow the enemy to target our forces," he said. He continued, saying: "We must be prepared to deal with the challenges in the Jenin camp, and continue the pressure, and at the same time carry out other missions. The upcoming plans are very precise and correct." In turn, the head of the "Shin Bet" Ronen Bar said during the assessment session: "We are waging a war on multiple fronts, and now it is the turn of Samaria (the Jewish name for the northern West Bank)."

Earlier on Thursday, two Palestinians were killed by Israeli occupation forces in the town of Burqin, south of the city of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank. Israeli military bulldozers also demolished a house in Burqin on Wednesday after an armed clash that lasted for several hours, according to local Palestinian sources.

On Tuesday, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority (official) said: "The Israeli army began an operation in Jenin with an air strike by a drone that targeted infrastructure." The Jenin operation came on the third day of implementing a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas, after an Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip that lasted for about 16 months.

The operation, according to Hebrew media, represents an attempt by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to appease the far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is angry about the ceasefire in Gaza. The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that Netanyahu promised Smotrich to launch an attack on the Jenin camp, in exchange for his not resigning from the government, which could lead to its collapse.

In parallel with the genocide in Gaza, the Israeli occupation army expanded its operations, and the settlers escalated their attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which led to the martyrdom of 873 Palestinians, the injury of about 6,700, and the arrest of 14,300 others, according to official Palestinian data.

Between October 7, 2023 and January 19, 2025, Israel, with American support, committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, leaving more than 158,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 14,000 missing, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

(Anatolia)