Palestinians drive a bullet-riddled truck out of Jenin refugee camp Thursday amid a major Israeli military operation in the West Bank city. Photo by Alaa Badarneh/EPA-EFE
Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Israel Defense Forces said Thursday it killed two Palestinian fighters in the West Bank overnight as a major" anti-terror" operation in and around the city of Jenin entered a third day.
The IDF said in a post on X that the two "terrorists" were killed in a firefight with territorial troops from its Menashe Brigade in a village three miles west of Jenin, bringing to 12 the number of people killed since it launched the operation on Tuesday, with dozens more injured.
"Under Shin Bet intelligence guidance, the forces launched a 'pressure cooker' operation on a building in the village of Burkin and after an exchange of fire with two terrorists who had barricaded themselves inside, the forces eliminated the terrorists," the IDF said.
It named the pair as Muhammad Nazal and Katiba Shalabi, from nearby Qabatiya, whom it said were affiliated with Islamic Jihad, alleging they helped carry out a Jan. 6 shooting attack that killed three Israeli motorists and injured six others as they drove through the Palestinian village of al-Funduq near Nablus.
Hamas claimed the men as members in a statement, while the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed that Israeli troops had removed their bodies and demolished the building where they died.
Israeli forces have set up checkpoints outside Jenin's main hospital to control movements to and from the facility, including ambulances and medical personnel, and sealed off the refugee camp in the west of the city.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation -- codenamed Iron Wall -- was aimed at combating the "Iranian axis" which it said was responsible for fueling violence by supplying arms, money and other material support to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the same way it supported Hezbollah in Lebanon and other groups in Syria and Yemen.
The BBC said it appeared that some of those killed were civilians, citing local media coverage of a businessman man who owned a well-known mobile phone shop, reportedly shot dead by Israeli troops as he drove along a road in the west of the city with his 10-year-old son.
The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident.
Armored bulldozers have plowed up roads to clear them of potential IEDs and moved into the refugee camp where the elderly, sick and young children were the only people remaining after most residents had left following fierce gun battles Tuesday night.
One man who had been allowed to leave the camp told the BBC that Israeli forces "were taking it out on us" for their losses during the fighting in Gaza.
Al Jazeera reported a similar picture, saying soldiers were detaining people to carry out ID checks, including women and children, before either sending them on their way, or taking them into custody.
It said evacuation orders across wide areas had seen thousands of Palestinians "forcibly displaced," and that Palestinians believed the number of casualties was much higher than was being reported because many of those injured were cut off by the road-blocks.
Al Jazeera prefixed its report by noting that it was reporting from neighboring Jordan after the Palestinian Authority banned the Qatar-based network Jan. 1, following suit from Israel which ordered it to shut its offices and cease broadcasting in May.