JERUSALEM: Israeli forces claimed to have killed a Hamas commander in the West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday as they pushed ahead with a weeks-long operation against fighter groups in the area that has sent tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing their homes.

The military said it had mounted a raid to arrest Aysar al-Saadi, the head of the Hamas network in the area and killed him in a gunfight in which another Hamas operative was also killed. Three other Hamas members were arrested, it said.

Hamas, which has also built up a powerful presence in the occupied West Bank, confirmed the death of al-Saadi but said it would not affect its commitment to fight Israel.

Jenin Governor Abu al-Rub said that two Palestinians were killed during the raid in the eastern neighbourhood of the city. “Two citizens were martyred, and many young men were arrested”, he said.

Governor says the raid has caused ‘devastation and massive destruction’

The head of the Jenin government hospital, Wisam Baker, said that a man identified as Jihad Alawneh was declared dead on arrival at the facility early on Tuesday. Baker said that Alawneh, 25, had bled out after being shot in the thigh.

Abu al-Rub said the raid had caused “devastation and massive destruction” in Jenin’s eastern neighbourhood, “which has not experienced an Israeli assault like this before”.

Massive destruction

The Israeli offensive in the northern West Bank began on Jan 21 around refugee camps, which has displaced tens of thousands of people and saw the first deployment of Israeli tanks in the territory in 20 years.

Thousands of Israeli troops have swept through refugee camps in Jenin and other cities in the northern part of the West Bank, including Tulkarm and Tubas, demolishing houses and infrastructure and forcing tens of thousands to leave taking only what they could carry with them.

On Tuesday, the military pushed out of the now-deserted Jenin refugee camp and into eastern areas of the city of Jenin itself, cutting off power supplies and digging up roads. Palestinians say the Israeli operations, which have cut water and electricity supplies and demolished dozens of houses, leave them no choice but to leave. Abu al-Rub said that the main electricity line was cut off, dozens of families were forced to leave, and army bulldozers had left behind a trail of damage.

On Tuesday afternoon, an AFP journalist said Israeli troops and armoured personnel carriers were still in Jenin’s eastern neighbourhood. Firefighters worked to extinguish a fire in an apartment hit during the raid, its facade charred and some of its walls destroyed. Pools of blood had accumulated in several rooms of the apartment, the journalist said.

Abu al-Rub said that “more than 50 families were forced to flee and evacuate their homes because the Israelis took over their houses and buildings, turning them into military barracks”. “All the streets in the eastern neighbourhood were bulldozed”, said the governor, including areas that before Tuesday did not see army bulldozers ripping through roads in what the military says aims to clear explosives.

Bassem Hardan, a resident of the neighbourhood, said that after initially ignoring army calls for his family to leave, “they called our neighbours and told them to get out within two minutes before they demolish the building”.

Dubbed “Iron Wall” by the Israeli military, the operation in the northern West Bank began days after a ceasefire took effect in Gaza, a separate Palestinian territory. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and its troops carry out regular raids there.

The ongoing operation has involved raids in multiple refugee camps near the cities of Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas, where Palestinian armed groups have a strong presence.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2025