Embryo- Thursday morning in Jenin seemed different from all the mornings that follow the Israeli occupation forces’ storming of the city and its camp located in the northern West Bank.
Hours after a large-scale military operation in Jenin camp, the occupation army announced the killing of a sniper unit commander with the rank of officer in two explosions in military vehicles in Marj Ibn Amer plain, and the injury of 16 other soldiers.
The operation was widely welcomed by the camp residents, who suffered extensive damage as a result of the continuous destruction of their property, homes, and infrastructure during the repeated occupation incursions.
According to the residents who went out to the camp square to inspect the effects of destruction caused by military bulldozers, this incursion is different from others, given the size of the losses inflicted by the resistance among the ranks of the occupation army.
From the midst of devastation
In front of his house in the middle of the camp square, Abu Shadi (52 years old) was talking with his neighbors about the news he had received about an ambush set up by members of the Jenin Brigade of the occupation forces. He said in an audible voice, “The youth made it worse this time…” meaning that they succeeded in causing the occupation soldiers to be killed or wounded. While his neighbor commented, “Let them know that entering Jenin is not easy. May God protect the youth.”
Abu Shadi’s house was damaged when the occupation bulldozed the outer wall surrounding it and demolished parts of it, in addition to destroying the street and the camp square opposite it, and cutting the electricity wires. But this is no longer important to the camp residents, who are accustomed to the occupation’s methods in every raid, he says.
He added, “What is left in the camp that they did not destroy? They destroyed the streets, the neighborhoods, and the houses. Even on Eid days, they came and bulldozed everything. We are accustomed to destruction. They are trying to punish us as the people of the camp. They are trying to demolish it and eliminate the resistance fighters, but we will remain here, and we will continue our support for the youth of the resistance.”
Near the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) clinic, in the middle of Jenin camp, one can see the massive destruction caused by bulldozers and Israeli occupation vehicles that stormed the city of Jenin and its camp last night in large numbers, and began bulldozing the streets leading to it.
double ambush
Less than an hour after the storming, local news groups on social media reported hearing the sound of a large explosion in the middle of the “Marj Ibn Amer” plain, located north of the Jenin camp. It turned out that a homemade bomb had been planted by fighters from the “Jenin Brigade” affiliated with the Al-Quds Brigades ( The military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement), and it exploded with one of the military occupation vehicles.
Video clips circulated by Palestinian activists showed the moment of the explosion, while news spread of confirmed injuries to occupation soldiers. Local eyewitnesses said that they saw at least 4 Israeli helicopters landing at the site of the bombing and transporting wounded soldiers.
In the morning, the occupation army admitted that its military vehicles had been ambushed in the middle of the “Marj Ibn Amer” plain, which is the road taken by its vehicles, troop carriers, and military bulldozers to reach the camp when it was stormed.
The army said in a statement that a very large explosive device exploded in an armored military vehicle, causing injuries among the soldiers inside. After a number of other soldiers arrived to treat the injured, and five meters away from the site of the first explosion, another explosive device exploded, killing Officer Alon Skagio, a commander in the Israeli army’s sniper unit, and wounding 16 other soldiers in the two explosions.
According to the occupation army’s statement, the ambush was “extremely surprising,” especially since the Israeli military force that was on its way to the camp had completed all the procedures it normally takes before storming, which is combing the roads with bulldozers to remove any mine or bomb planted in the streets, but nothing was met. This time, one or two explosive devices were on their way, which exploded in military vehicles, causing “major losses.”
According to preliminary investigations reported by the occupation army, the explosive devices were surprising in terms of their large size and in terms of their planting at a depth of at least 1.5 meters.
The large craters created by the explosive devices in the “Marj Ibn Amer” plain show their huge size, which confirms their difference from the nature of the devices that the “Jenin Brigade” used to plant on the sides of the roads and streets in the camp and on its outskirts.
Although the camp residents fear that the Israeli occupation army will return to carry out a large-scale incursion in retaliation for the killing of an officer and the injury of 16 others, they consider what happened a major achievement for the resistance.
“Basically, the occupation is constantly storming, destroying and sabotaging the camp. They have not left anything as it is, and they do not need a reason to enter the camp and turn it upside down… The ambush is a great achievement for the battalion and its young men, and we hope that it will continue and develop and that the battalion will inflict more painful injuries among the soldiers every time.” Ahmed Al-Saadi says: A resident of Jenin camp told Tel Aviv Tribune Net who went out to inspect the effects of destruction around his house.
Development of the battalion’s performance
Othman Khalil, a resident of the camp, also says that Jenin is the other image of Gaza, with its resistance, their steadfastness, and their continuous attempts to develop the fighting methods they use to confront the occupation.
He added to Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “We see this destruction exactly like it in Gaza, and we see this steadfastness from the youth of the resistance in the resistance fighters in Gaza. Thanks to God, the battalion is always trying to develop itself, to resist this brutal occupation.”
Meanwhile, a number of fighters from the “Jenin Brigade” were distributed at the entrances to the camp and in its alleys to monitor and monitor any movements of special forces or occupation soldiers to re-storm after the “Marj Ibn Amer” ambush.
Tel Aviv Tribune Net spoke with the fighter “N.S” from the Jenin Battalion, while he was on a tour to inspect the barriers that the battalion is deploying at the entrances to the camp to prevent the entry of “suspicious” cars that may be carrying Israeli special forces.
He said that the battalion is trying with all its might to develop methods of confrontation with the Israeli occupation forces, especially after the fighters realized that machine guns were no longer sufficient to inflict losses on soldiers entrenched in armored vehicles, “so the battalion developed locally manufactured explosive devices and the method of detonating and planting them.”
He added, “The occupation army feels shocked because until now it does not know whether the latest devices exploded via wires or electronically. We in the battalion will not explain how we detonated them so as to keep it in shock and confusion. But thanks to God, the devices are being developed to inflict the greatest losses on the occupation soldiers, and we are preparing them.” “This is just the beginning.”
While another fighter named “S.D” confirmed to Tel Aviv Tribune Net that the assassinations carried out by Israel against the resistance fighters have increased the number of young people joining the battalion. For each martyr of the fighters, 3 other young men join the ranks of the “Mujahideen,” and they are “more experienced in engagement, confrontation, and preparing explosives.”
He added, “The youth feel that they have nothing to lose after everything Israel has done in Jenin, Gaza, and the rest of the West Bank camps. Everyone believes that resistance is the solution.”
By announcing the killing of an officer from the Israeli occupation army’s sniper unit and the wounding of 16 other soldiers, this is the first time that the Israeli army has acknowledged the occurrence of such losses among its ranks in the northern West Bank in 22 years, that is, since the famous invasion of Jenin in 2002.