Israel says it killed Palestinian attackers as Jenin raid
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Reuters Palestinians inspect a building in Burqin, destroyed in an operation in which Israeli security forces killed two Palestinians accused of killing three Israelis in an attack in the occupied West Bank (23 January 2025) Reuters
Palestinians say Israeli forces demolished the house where the men were staying after taking their bodies.
Israel says it has killed two gunmen suspected of carrying out a shooting attack that killed three Israelis in the occupied West Bank earlier this month.
Qutaiba Shalabi and Mohammed Nazzal were killed after a fierce exchange of fire with Israeli forces on Wednesday evening in Burqin, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
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The Palestinian Health Ministry said their bodies were taken by Israeli forces and the house they were staying in was destroyed.
Hamas issued a statement describing them as its fighters.
Reuters Palestinians walk past Israeli military vehicles and an armored bulldozer on a destroyed road in the Jenin refugee camp, during an operation by Israeli security forces, in the occupied West Bank (January 22, 2025) Reuters
Palestinian families flee the Jenin refugee camp on roads dug by Israeli bulldozers
Israel has been carrying out a major military operation in and around Jenin since Tuesday. Army vehicles are blocking the entry of medical personnel and ambulances to the main hospital and blocking the entrance to the Jenin refugee camp, where civilians and Palestinian armed groups live.
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Twelve Palestinians were killed in the operation, including Shalabi and Nazzal, and dozens more were wounded.
Israel says it wants to destroy armed groups in the region, backed by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and prevent them from carrying out attacks on Israeli targets.
Israel fears the West Bank could become the next hotbed of Iranian influence and weapons.
But the show of force here after the ceasefire in Gaza also appeals to those in Israel who want not only to continue the war in that region, but also to annex the West Bank. Reuters Funeral of Ahmed al-Shayeb, a Palestinian killed during an operation by Israeli security forces in Jenin, occupied West Bank .1e80af20-d96c-11ef-902e-cf9b84dc1357.jpg.webp
Ahmed al-Shayeb, who locals say was a well-known businessman, was buried on Wednesday.
Some of those killed in Jenin are believed to have been civilians.
Ahmed al-Shayeb was the owner of a mobile phone shop - a well-known businessman, not a fighter, residents say.
He was shot dead by Israeli forces as he drove on a road near the Jenin refugee camp, with his 10-year-old son Taym in the car.
"They started shooting and a bullet hit him," Taym told reporters at his father's funeral on Wednesday.
"He said 'God, God' and then the car crashed into the curb. I saw two army vehicles coming towards us. "They started shooting at the car, but I jumped out and ran away."
The Israeli military said the incident was being investigated.
Reuters Taym al-Shayeb is comforted during the funeral of his father Ahmed, who was shot dead during an operation by Israeli security forces in Jenin in the occupied West Bank (January 23, 2025) Reuters
Ahmed al-Shayeb was shot in front of his 10-year-old son, Taym.
The roads leading into the Jenin camp - some of them torn up by military bulldozers - are guarded by small groups of soldiers, who raised their weapons as we approached.
Fierce fighting was reported in the camp on Tuesday evening, and on Wednesday several residents tried to leave.
One man told us that residents were separated by the military into groups of five, before being checked by drone, and arrested or allowed to leave. We noticed a small group of adults and children crossing the road between the soldiers, on dirt and concrete, one man lifting his son higher above his head.
Displaced Palestinians fleeing the Jenin refugee camp during an operation by Israeli security forces in Jenin, occupied West Bank (January 23, 2025)
Kefah Sehwal (left) said Israeli forces were carrying out attacks there "like in Gaza."
He told us that military bulldozers had reached the middle of the camp and he feared the operation was beginning in earnest.
"There are still many people in the camp – the elderly, the sick and the children," he said. "They cannot leave. God help them."
He said the raid was unlike many others Israel has carried out since Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza. "This time it's different, there are strikes everywhere." "It's like Gaza," he said.
Next to him, Kefah Sehwal, 52, said he had lost 15 family members since then.
"After what happened with [Israeli forces] in Gaza, the reaction is here," he told me. "They're coming after us."
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz spoke of a "change of strategy" for the operation, saying the lesson from Gaza was not just to "eliminate the terrorists," as he had said, but to prevent them from returning. This plan didn't work in Gaza. It's not certain it will work in Jenin.
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