UN agencies alarmed by West Bank escalation as three children among dead in Israeli raid

At least 10 Palestinians killed so far as Israel launches one of its biggest military operations in decades in the occupied West Bank

UN agencies expressed their alarm on Tuesday after it emerged that at least three children were among those killed by Israeli forces during their raids in the Jenin refugee camp of the occupied West Bank.

Israel on Monday launched one of its biggest operations in the refugee camp in 20 years, carrying out a series of drone strikes and sending in bulldozers and hundreds of troops who engaged in extensive gun battles, forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee the camps through alleyways.

Later in Tel Aviv at least six people suffered injuries in a car-ramming and stabbing attack on Tuesday, A motorist, described as a Palestinian by Israeli police, was "neutralised" at the scene by a civilian first-responder, officials said.

In the West Bank, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office said they are “alarmed at the scale of air and ground operations that are taking place in Jenin... and airstrikes hitting a densely populated refugee camp”.

First responders have been prevented from entering the refugee camp, including to reach persons who have been critically injured, World Health Organisation spokesperson Christian Lindmeier added.

The Israeli army said it was allowing people who wanted to leave to do so. The Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service said as many as 3,000 people had left by midnight on Monday and that they expected the exodus to continue.

Residents said there was no running water and that the electricity supply had been severed in much of the camp.

Israeli forces have detained dozens of people “inside narrow rooms in their homes, without providing or allowing any food or drink”, the Red Crescent said, adding that their work has been hampered dur to “great damage to roads and infrastructure inside the camp”.

The army said it was striking "terrorist infrastructure targets and armed gunmen" in the camp and had found explosives during a search of a mosque.

Residents evacuate the Jenin refugee camp during an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank (AFP via Getty Images)

At least 120 suspected Palestinian militants have been arrested, Israeli media, said as hundreds of Israeli troops continued to operate in the camp on Tuesday, seizing weapons and explosives and destroying tunnels and command posts.

The Jenin operation led to protests across the occupied West Bank, including at a checkpoint near the city of Ramallah, where a 21-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire.

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the Israeli military, said the operation was necessary because nearly 50 attacks over the past year have emanated from Jenin.

Earlier, video showed Israeli soldiers shooting at a camera and transmitter belonging to two West Bank journalists reporting from the refugee camp.

Al-Araby TV reporter Amid Shehadeh and video journalist Rabi Munir said they were "directly targetted" with more than six bullets that set their equipments ablaze.

Hamas supporters wave green Islamic flags while raise their hands up and chant slogans (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank held an emergency meeting late on Monday and announced a halt to its already limited contacts with Israel. A spokesperson for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called the operation “a new war crime against our defenceless people”.

Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, who have normal ties with Isreal, condemned the incursion along with the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Isreal, however, remained unfazed.

"In recent months, Jenin has turned into a safe haven for terrorism. We are putting an end to this," Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, hailing the operation. He claimed the raid was taking place with "minimum harm to civilians".

An Israeli armoured vehicle fires tear gas during an ongoing military operation in Jenin city (AFP via Getty Images)

Hamas, which governs in Gaza, said it was ready to intervene if Israel goes too far and “persists in its aggression” in the camp.

“Our people and their resistance everywhere know how to respond to this barbaric aggression,” Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh reportedly said in a statement.

For more than a year, army raids in cities like Jenin have been linked to a series of deadly attacks by Palestinians against Israelis and rampages by settler mobs against Palestinian villages.

“We have seen the reports and are monitoring the situation closely,” a White House spokesperson said. “We support Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups.”

More than 140 Palestinians have been killed so far this year by Israeli fire in the West Bank, according to the Associated Press’s count, almost half of them affiliated with militant groups.

Civilians have also been killed, including a two-year-old in June and a 15-year-old girl in a raid on Jenin camp last week.