At least one killed and 16 injured in clashes between Palestinians and Israeli Army

At least one person has been killed and 16 injured early Tuesday morning in clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian officials said.

The armed clashes erupted as Israeli forces entered the city to demolish the home of the man responsible for an attack in Tel Aviv last April in which three people were killed and eleven others wounded, after he allegedly fired shots at bars and businesses on a downtown street, ‘The Jerusalem Post’ has reported.

A large number of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and vehicles have stormed overnight into Jenin, — an estimated 100 military vehicles accompanied by a bulldozer — and forced residents of an eastern neighborhood of the city to leave their apartments, the Palestinian news agency Maan has reported.

This was followed by clashes between Palestinians and the military in several parts of the city, as a result of which 16 civilians were injured, one of them seriously, including a girl who was hit in the jaw, in addition to two young men.

As ‘The Times of Israel’ has learned, Israeli troops have carried out the demolition of the house of the alleged killer of three citizens of Israel after receiving an order to do so issued by the Army in May.

Subsequently, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry has criticized the “barbaric” Israeli incursion into Jenin and held the Israeli government responsible for the spike in tensions, before adding that the operation “is part of Israel’s systematic and deliberate escalation to turn the Palestinian issue into a security, rather than a political one.”

In this regard, he has argued that by accusing the Palestinians of these incidents, Israel “is trying to cover up the reality of its rejection of all signed agreements while it has free reign in doing what it wants in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has further accused Israel in a statement posted on its website of “acting with colonial arrogance” and asserted that “the occupying state commits daily violations and crimes against the Palestinian people and its arms work to weaken the Palestinian side and beat the elements of its survival and credibility in the streets.”

“What the occupying power is doing is systematically destroying the possibility of achieving peace,” he lamented, before advancing that he will “take this crime to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United Nations Human Rights Council.” Finally, he asked the international community for “international protection” for the Palestinian people.