West Bank Residents Survey Destruction as Israeli Forces Withdraw
The New York Times
A 10-day raid by Israeli troops into the occupied territory has been one of the most devastating in years, with at least 39 people killed, according to Palestinian officials.
Israeli military forces appeared to withdraw on Friday from the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian news media and residents, 10 days into a major raid that has killed dozens of people, including children, and caused widespread destruction.
Hours after the Israeli military pulled back from Jenin, Palestinian civil defense teams along with public works employees and volunteers fanned out to assess the damaged homes, businesses, roads and water lines, and began the effort to restore essential services, according to Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, an American woman who was protesting against an Israeli settler outpost was fatally shot. A 13-year-old Palestinian girl who was watching a clash between Israelis and Palestinians was also killed in a separate incident. People who were present blamed both shootings on Israeli troops. The Israeli military said it was investigating.
It wasn’t immediately clear on Friday whether all Israeli soldiers had left Jenin, in the northern part of the West Bank, or whether they would return. As Israeli forces have conducted one of their most extensive and deadly raids in the West Bank in years, they have pulled back from Palestinian cities and towns several times before returning.
In a statement on Friday, the Israeli military did not comment on a withdrawal but said its forces “are continuing to act in order to achieve the objectives of the counterterrorism operation.” It has described the recent raids — a marked escalation after the near-nightly operations that had already become the norm — as an effort to crack down on Palestinian armed groups and combat rising attacks against Israelis.
