Israel said to free Hamas member seized in West Bank raid

A Hamas member arrested by Israeli forces in a raid in a West Bank refugee camp this week was released without explanation Thursday, Palestinian security officials said.

Majdi Abu al-Hija, whose home in the Jenin refugee camp was destroyed during fierce clashes that accompanied his arrest overnight Monday, returned to the nearby city of Jenin and was taken in by relatives, the officials said.

The Israeli military did not comment on the report of his release.

“We have no new information,” a spokeswoman told AFP.

The Jenin camp has been home to many Islamic Jihad and Hamas members and the scene of frequent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops, with the army carrying out regular raids to arrest suspected terrorists.

The Monday night IDF operation included an incident in which a police commando was wounded, “probably” hit by friendly fire, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon confirmed Tuesday afternoon.

“This action was initiated by us, inside Jenin, in an effort to arrest a terror operative. There was also a moderately wounded person, a police commando, probably by fire from our own forces,” Ya’alon said at a conference hosted by the business newspaper Calcalist.

According to the Haaretz daily, the operation in Jenin was carried out by a team of experienced soldiers who have been working together for a long time.

The wounded officer was evacuated by helicopter to Rambam Hospital in Haifa. He arrived fully conscious, and after undergoing CT scans and other tests was taken to surgery for a bullet wound in the lower body. His condition was listed as moderate and stable.

In a statement Tuesday morning, the Israel Defense Forces said that “gunshots were reportedly fired in the vicinity” of the forces operating in Jenin.

Initial reports by Palestinian media said at least six Palestinians were shot dead in an exchange of fire with the Israeli forces. However, a Palestinian security official did not confirm any fatalities, saying only that five people had been hospitalized for tear gas inhalation.

The military said a violent riot by “hundreds of Palestinians” erupted in the city and that the crowd hurled rocks and Molotov cocktail at the forces.

According to the Palestinians, the Israeli forces surrounded several homes and then fired missiles at two of them.

The homes encircled by the Israeli forces were reportedly those of Bassem Saadi, a formerly imprisoned senior Islamic Jihad terrorist, and the Hamas-affiliated Majdi and Alaa Abu al-Hija. The Hija brothers are the sons of imprisoned Hamas leader Jamal Abu al-Hija; their older brother Hamza Abu al-Hija was killed in a shootout with the IDF last year.

According to reports in Palestinian media, Saadi’s home was demolished by troops during the operation. Others reports said that the al-Hija family home had been destroyed as well.

The IDF did not name the target of the raid in its statement.

Shortly after dawn Tuesday, in what was may have been a retaliation for the Jenin operation, Palestinians fired a rocket from the Gaza Strip. Sirens blared in the western Negev but the rocket apparently landed inside the Palestinian enclave.