Policewoman killed, 3 injured by bomb in Jenin; 7 Palestinians killed in airstrike
IDF helicopter strikes cell of Palestinian gunmen hurling explosives at troops during attempt to evacuate wounded Border Police officers
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
A Border Police officer was killed and three others wounded by a roadside bomb, and seven Palestinians were killed in an airstrike during a raid overnight Saturday in the northern West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp.
Sgt. Shay Germay, 19, was in a vehicle hit by a roadside bomb during the raid, along with three of her comrades. One was seriously wounded, while the other officers two were lightly hurt, according to Rambam Hospital in Haifa.
In a joint statement, the Israel Defense Forces and police said forces entered Jenin for a counterterrorism operation, when an explosive device planted on the side of a road hit the Border Police vehicle.
The IDF said that during the evacuation of the wounded officers, an attack helicopter carried out an airstrike against a group of Palestinian gunmen who were hurling explosives at troops.
“Six terrorists were killed in the strike,” the IDF said on Sunday morning.
The Palestinian Authority health ministry said a total of seven people were killed in the strike, with one succumbing to his wounds later on Sunday.
A local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group claimed responsibility for the attack on the Border Police vehicle.
במהלך פעילות כוחות הביטחון הלילה במחנה הפליטים ג’נין רכב צבאי של מג”ב עלה על מטען מוטמן, כתוצאה מכך נהרגה לוחמת מג”ב ונפצעו מספר לוחמים נוספים באורחים שונים.
במהלך הפעילות כלי טיס תקף חוליית מחבלים שהשליכה מטענים על הכוחות שפעלו במרחב וסיכנה אותם. חוסלו 6 מחבלים בתקיפה>> pic.twitter.com/yFf9NQlUWr— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 7, 2024
Israeli troops have carried out dozens of raids in and around Jenin in recent months. Israel says that the PA has lost control of areas of the northern West Bank, allowing terror groups to entrench themselves and launch attacks on Israelis on both sides of the Green Line.
In mid-December, the IDF carried out a major 60-hour counterterrorism operation in Jenin and adjacent refugee camps, in which troops scanned hundreds of buildings, arrested 60 wanted Palestinians, and seized 50 weapons and hundreds of explosive devices.
The military said the troops also found more than 10 tunnel shafts during the raid, along with seven labs used to manufacture explosive devices, and five war rooms used by local terror operatives to monitor IDF operations.
Violence in the West Bank has soared since Hamas’s October 7 massacres, which saw thousands of terrorists burst across the border from the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing over 240 hostages of all ages — mainly civilians. In response to the deadliest attack in the country’s history, Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas from the Gaza Strip, where the terror group has ruled since 2007, and return the hostages.
Since October 7, troops have arrested more than 2,600 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,300 affiliated with Hamas. According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, some 300 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time.
Based on military estimates, the vast majority of those killed since October 7 were shot during clashes amid arrest raids.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
