A car-ramming attack in northern Tel Aviv has injured at least seven people only a day after Israel launched an “extensive counterterrorism effort” in the occupied West Bank.
“According to a defense source, Israeli soldiers have begun retreating from Jenin after conducting one of the largest military operations in the occupied West Bank in years.
It comes only hours after Israeli police reported that a suspected Palestinian car-ramming and stabbing incident in Tel Aviv, Israel, injured at least eight people on Tuesday.
A medical official at the scene said at least one victim was stabbed in the attack, and the suspected assailant was swiftly shot by a civilian and later ‘neutralized’ by first responders.
The Islamist terrorist organization Hamas claimed responsibility for the incident, which it said was carried out by one of its members in reaction to Israel’s continuing military incursion in the occupied West Bank.
Earlier, the United Nations (UN) claimed three children were among ten people killed during an Israeli military operation in Jenin, raising concerns about the scope of the operation.
On Tuesday, UN aid agencies claimed that there were restrictions regarding medical access.
‘We are alarmed at the scale of air and ground operations that are taking place in Jenin in the occupied West Bank and airstrikes hitting a densely populated refugee camp’, said Vanessa Huguenin, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office.
Ever since March of 2022, Jenin and surrounding neighborhoods in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have been subjected to increased raids authorized by Israel’s nationalist government in response to a trend of Palestinian street violence.
The Jenin camp has long been a haven for militants armed with a variety of small weapons and an expanding stockpile of explosive devices. The Israeli military frequently accuses terrorist organizations of locating militants in highly populated urban areas, such as 1948 refugee camps. Many militants dwell in the camp, frequently with their families.
In an operation in Jenin in January, Israeli soldiers killed seven militants and two civilians. Last month, Palestinian terrorists and Israeli soldiers engaged in an hours-long gunfight in which six Palestinians were killed and over ninety were injured. A landmine injured seven Israeli soldiers and disabled their armored vehicle.
In reprisal, Palestinian gunmen killed four Israelis near a Jewish community, inciting settlers to rampage through Palestinian villages, torching houses and automobiles”. -Brooke Mallory, One America News
It comes as no coincidence that this incident occurred only just over a week after eight Palestinians and two Palestinian children perished in the Israeli military operation in Jenin.
The root causes of ongoing tensions between Israel and Palestine are that the Palestinian aspiration of establishing an independent state has been denied while the injustices imposed by the Israeli occupation have been left unaddressed for too long.