An Israeli military drone reportedly fired three missiles at a group of people in the Jenin refugee camp.
A Palestinian teenager and three brothers were among at least six people killed in an Israeli air attack on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to reports.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa said that an Israeli drone fired three missiles at a group of people near a traffic roundabout in the camp on Tuesday evening, killing six people, including a 15-year-old boy, and injuring several others.
Five other victims of the attack were aged between 23 and 34, and included three brothers, Wafa reports. Earlier this month, an Israeli drone strike on the occupied West Bank’s Tammun town killed two Palestinian children and a 23-year-old from the same family.
Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said the drone strike on the Jenin camp comes amid intense Israeli military raids on local communities and the killing by Israeli forces of almost 800 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023 – as well as the arrest of several thousand others.
“Israel’s defence minister has said that Israel will continue this policy across the West Bank,” Salhut said, adding that the violence in the occupied territory is now known as Israel’s “silent war”.
“It’s become known as the silent war – parallel, side by side with what Israel is doing in Gaza, but not getting as much attention,” Salhut said.
The deadly drone strike also comes amid a military operation launched in the Jenin camp by the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) security forces over the last several weeks, targeting Palestinian resistance fighters, which has resulted in more than a dozen people killed.
Anwar Rajab, a spokesperson for the PA’s security forces, said the attack was intended to “disrupt efforts” by the authority to achieve security and stability in Jenin.
Hassan Khraisheh, the deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said the drone strike demonstrated Israel’s willingness to kill Palestinians indiscriminately.
“This is a clear message from the Israeli occupation that every Palestinian is a target,” Khraisheh told Al Jazeera.
The drone strike has also sparked rage among locals as coming amid the PA’s military operation in Jenin, Khraisheh said, adding that the PA should now withdraw from Jenin and unite with other Palestinian groups in opposing the Israeli occupation.
“Our enemy is one – whether as resistance fighters or [PA] security forces,” he said.
“No one is protected against Israeli attacks.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the Jenin Battalion of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said that it agreed to a local initiative to end the Palestinian infighting and stop the bloodshed between Palestinians in the occupied territory. The group did not reveal details of the agreement, but it said that it affirms the “legitimate right to resist the criminal occupation”.
Alongside its campaign to crack down on fighters in Jenin, which it brands as “outlaws”, the PA has also suspended Al Jazeera in the occupied West Bank in what is seen as further silencing of dissent and freedom of expression by the authority.
