Israeli Drone Strike Kills Six in Jenin Refugee Camp, Including Teenager and Three Brothers
A missile strike in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin camp has resulted in at least six deaths, fueling anger amid rising tensions and military operations.
At least six people, including a Palestinian teenager and three brothers, were killed in an Israeli drone attack on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday evening, according to local reports.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the drone fired three missiles at a group of people near a traffic roundabout in the camp, leaving six dead and several others injured. Among the victims were a 15-year-old boy and five men aged between 23 and 34, three of whom were brothers. This attack follows a similar Israeli drone strike earlier in January, which killed two children and a young man in the town of Tammun.
The airstrike comes amid an ongoing escalation in violence across the occupied West Bank. Since October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have killed nearly 800 Palestinians in the region and arrested thousands more. Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut noted that this surge in violence, now referred to as Israel’s “silent war,” has largely gone unnoticed compared to the conflict in Gaza, but continues to claim Palestinian lives daily.
Israel’s Defense Minister has stated that the military will persist with its actions in the West Bank. The attack also coincides with a series of Israeli military operations in Jenin, as part of a broader strategy to target Palestinian resistance groups. Over the past several weeks, security forces under the Palestinian Authority (PA) have also been conducting raids, resulting in the deaths of over a dozen Palestinians.
Anwar Rajab, a spokesperson for the PA’s security forces, suggested that the Israeli airstrike was aimed at undermining the PA's efforts to stabilize the region and combat armed resistance. However, Hassan Khraisheh, deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, condemned the attack as an example of Israel’s indiscriminate killings of Palestinians, stressing that this strike sent a clear message that no Palestinian is safe from Israeli attacks.
“The Israeli occupation is sending a message that every Palestinian is a target,” Khraisheh said, adding that the PA should now reconsider its stance in Jenin and align with other Palestinian factions in opposition to Israeli occupation.
Earlier that day, the Jenin Battalion of Palestinian Islamic Jihad announced its agreement to a local initiative aimed at ending infighting among Palestinians and halting further bloodshed in the occupied territories. The group, however, did not provide specific details of the agreement but reiterated its commitment to resisting the Israeli occupation.
In response to the increasing unrest, the PA has also suspended the activities of Al Jazeera in the West Bank, a move widely seen as an attempt to stifle dissent and limit freedom of expression in the region.
The deadly drone strike in Jenin highlights the growing tensions between Israeli forces, the Palestinian Authority, and resistance factions, as well as the ongoing suffering faced by Palestinian civilians caught in the crossfire.