Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Monday, July 3, 2023

Netanyahu: Jenin operation is changing the equation against terrorists

3 July 2023, 8:12 pm 0 Edit

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (second from right) attends a security briefing during an IDF operation in Jenin on July 3, 2023. At left is IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, and next to him is Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet is at center. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hails the IDF operation in Jenin, saying it is changing the equation in the fight against terror in the West Bank.

Speaking after an assessment with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the heads of the IDF and Shin Bet, Netanyahu lauds the achievements in the raid.

“In recent months, Jenin has become a haven for terrorism — we are putting an end to it,” Netanyahu says, noting that Israeli forces killed several gunmen, arrested others, and found and destroyed a host of weapon and bomb-making facilities — some of them “on an industrial scale.”

Netanyahu points out that the forces are operating in a densely populated area and “they are doing it with minimal harm to civilians.”

The premier claims that the operation will change “the equation against terrorism,” and compares it to the recent operation against Islamic Jihad in Gaza and the 2021 Guardian of the Walls operation against Hamas.

“We are doing it today in Jenin with a combination of measures, surprise, use of power, and changing the rules. This also adds to the deterrence capacity of the State of Israel, both to protect against further terrorist attacks and to change the equation in the region,” he says.