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Israel strikes mosque in Jenin refugee camp

22-10-2023

OCCUPIED WEST BANK: Israeli forces targeted the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank after announcing intensifying airstrikes on Gaza ahead of a planned ground invasion.

The airstrike targeted a mosque associated with the Jenin Brigade, labeled an “underground terrorist group” by Israel, reported media on Sunday.

According to Israeli sources, the Al-Ansar mosque was associated with the Jenin Brigade, labelled an “underground terrorist group” by Israel and added that they were “neutralized”, without giving details on the number killed in the strike or their identities.

The director of the Red Crescent in Jenin, Mahmoud Al-Saadi, was quoted by the Palestinian news agency Wafa saying one person was martyred and three others injured in the strike.

Dozens of people have been martyred in the West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers since October 7, when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel and killed at least 1,400 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli reports.

Meanwhile, Israel has launched heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip in retaliation, which has martyred more than 4,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians including over 1,000 children, according to the Gaza health ministry.

According to a journalist Sara Khairat, the air strike took residents “by surprise” but it appears there may still be more to come.

“Eyewitness spoke to us and said they saw an F-fighter jet in the sky, they heard it and then the Israeli army came out to confirm it was an air strike,” said Khairat live from Ramallah.

The mosque was the site of a two-day Israeli siege in July when Israeli forces found a network of tunnels and seized equipment, drones, and ammunition, she said.

Following the attack, some residents received text messages on their phones warning them to avoid collaborating with the Jenin Brigade, one of the largest and most popular groups in the West Bank.

The messages also said to keep children inside, media reported.

There are also unconfirmed reports of an Israeli officer calling residents and telling them to turn their “youngsters” over to the police by 7am.

Jenin, a Palestinian camp in Israel, has faced Israeli antagonisation since 2002, with incidents like the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last year. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)

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