Palestinian officials say IDF strikes set back truce deal between PA and Jenin Brigade

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Illustrative: Smoke rises during clashes between gunmen and the Palestinian Authority's security forces, inside the Jenin refugee camp, on January 12, 2025. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)
Illustrative: Smoke rises during clashes between gunmen and the Palestinian Authority's security forces, inside the Jenin refugee camp, on January 12, 2025. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)

A pair of IDF airstrikes in the West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp earlier this week set back negotiations that were on the verge of a truce agreement between the Palestinian Authority and armed terror groups in the northern West Bank city that would have seen the latter hand over their weapons to the PA in exchange for immunity, two Palestinian officials familiar with the matter tell The Times of Israel.

The Tuesday and Wednesday strikes targeted some of the terror leaders that the PA has been operating against for over a month. Six people were killed in each strike, including civilians, according to Palestinian media reports.

The Palestinian officials who spoke with The Times of Israel lambasted the IDF for the airstrikes, saying that they undermined Ramallah’s efforts to crack down on lawlessness in the northern West Bank.

The PA has been carrying out an unprecedented counterterrorism raid, largely targeting the refugee camp’s so-called Jenin Battalion, whose fighters are largely affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

Israel has urged the PA to crack down on these armed factions for years, explaining that it would limit raids in West Bank cities where Ramallah is operating against terror elements.

The IDF held off on conducting any strikes or raids in Jenin when the PA began its raid there last month but ended that policy this week.

One of the Palestinian officials speculated that the decision was pushed by far-right elements in Israel who don’t want the PA to succeed in its effort, which also comes as Ramallah works to get off on the right foot with US President-elect Donald Trump.

The official says the strikes may have also been designed to scuttle the brewing agreement between the PA and the armed groups that would have seen them hand over all of their weapons in exchange for immunity — something that Ramallah believes would significantly calm tensions in the northern West Bank.

The second Palestinian official says that negotiations with the Jenin Brigade are ongoing and the PA still hopes an agreement can be reached in the coming days. The PA is hoping that the deal can coincide with the ceasefire in Gaza, the official says.

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