Israel lashes out at West Bank in wake of ICC request

Airstrikes continue across the Gaza Strip as the Israeli ground invasion continues in Jabalia and Rafah, displacing thousands. Meanwhile, the Israeli army launched a wide-ranging invasion of Jenin refugee camp, killing 12 people.

BY QASSAM MUADDI  MAY 23, 2024

HUNDREDS ATTEND THE FUNERAL FOR THE 12 MARTYRS OF THE ISRAELI ARMY’S INVASION OF JENIN AND JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, MAY 23, 2024. (PHOTO: MOHAMMED NASSER/APA IMAGES)

Casualties 

• 35,709 + killed* and at least 79,990 wounded in the Gaza Strip.*
• 519+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.**
• Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,139.
• 634 Israeli soldiers have been announced as killed by the Israeli army since October 7, and at least 3,568 have been announced as wounded.***

*Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on its Telegram channel on May 22, 2024. Some rights groups estimate the death toll to be much higher when accounting for those presumed dead.

** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to the PA’s Ministry of Health on May 22, this is the latest figure.

*** These figures are released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” The number of Israeli soldiers wounded according to Israeli media reports exceeds 6,800 as of April 1.

Key Developments 

• Israel kills 323 Palestinians, wounds 624 since Monday, May 20, across Gaza, raising the death toll since October 7 to 35,709 and the number of wounded to 79,990, according to the Gaza health ministry.
• Spain, Norway, and Ireland recognize the State of Palestine.
• Israel revokes the 2005 disengagement law for the northern West Bank, allows resettlement of evacuated illegal settlements and outposts.
• Israeli forces kill 12 Palestinians in wide-ranging invasion of Jenin and Jenin refugee camp.
• Israel studies closing embassy in Ireland.
• Colombian foreign minister says Colombia’s president ordered the opening of embassy to Palestine in Ramallah.
• Israeli drone strike on school bus kills driver and wounds three students on board in southern Lebanon.
• Hezbollah fires tens of rockets on Israeli army Regiment 91 headquarters in Galilee.
• Israeli army admits two officers and soldier killed, dozens wounded over past week in Gaza.
• Israeli army says two U.S. soldiers wounded at newly constructed sea pier off Gaza shore.

Israel kills 323 Palestinians since Monday, destroys hundreds of homes in Jabalia

The Gaza-based Palestinian health ministry announced that the remaining hospitals in the Gaza Strip received 323 slain Palestinians in Israeli airstrikes since Monday, May 20, while 624 others arrived wounded.

Meanwhile, local media sources reported that in the past 24 hours, Israeli strikes killed at least 16 people including 10 children in Gaza City. The strikes targeted a mosque and a school where displaced civilians were taking shelter, including in the al-Daraj neighborhood, a family house in the same neighborhood, and an apartment in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood.

Local Palestinian media sources reported that on Thursday morning medical workers tried to return to the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia, in the northern of Gaza City, but failed due to the risk of exposure to Israeli troops in the area.

In Jabalia, Israeli troops continue their invasion of the refugee camp for the 12th day in a row. Israeli forces bombed different areas of the camp, destroying several residential buildings. Most of the residents in Jabalia have fled to other areas of Gaza City and its surroundings.

In the central Gaza Strip, Israeli strikes targeted the Nuseirat, Maghazi, and Bureij refugee camps, destroying several residential buildings.

In the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli forces continue to expand their invasion into Rafah. Israeli airstrikes concentrated on the east and center of the city. Israeli quadcopters caused fires to spread in the fish market area in Rafah, after targeting it with strikes, sources reported. Meanwhile, Israeli tanks advanced along the Philadelphia corridor adjacent to the Egyptian border.

Israeli forces continue to close the border crossings at Rafah and Karam Abu Salem for the 17th consecutive day, blocking essential humanitarian aid from entering the Strip.

Israeli outrage after string of European recognitions of State of Palestine

The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported on Wednesday that the Israeli government is studying retaliatory measures against Ireland, Spain, and Norway for their recognition of the State of Palestine.

According to the daily, the measures could include restrictions on visa entries to officials from these countries, which would limit their capacity to work with Palestinians. Meanwhile, the Israeli foreign ministry announced that it had recalled its ambassadors in Ireland and Norway back to Israel.

On Wednesday, Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement that the recognition of the Palestinian state was “a reward for terrorism,” adding that the Palestinian state “will be a terrorist state that will try to repeat the October 7 attacks.”

As for Yoav Gallant, Israel’s war minister revoked the Israeli “disengagement law” for the northern West Bank. The step was understood as a punitive measure against the Palestinian Authority in response to the ICC application to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as the recognition of the State of Palestine.

The law was decreed in 2005, put forward by then-Israeli PM Ariel Sharon. It stipulated Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the evacuation of all its settlements in the enclave, while in the West Bank, the “disengagement” plan included the evacuation of four settlements in the north. After Gallant’s revocation of the disengagement law for the northern West Bank on Wednesday, Israeli settlers are npw allowed to go back to the evacuated settlements. This comes a year after the Knesset introduced an amendment to the disengagement law in March 2023.

Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich also responded by requesting the government to freeze the transfer of all Palestinian customs revenue collected by Israel on the PA’s behalf. Smotrich also called for a meeting of the settlements authority in Israel to advance the building of 10,000 additional housing units and three more illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Israel kills 12  Palestinians in Jenin raid

Israeli forces killed 12 Palestinians in one of the most violent invasions on the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank between Monday and Thursday. Mondoweiss spoke to several Jenin residents and eyewitnesses.

The slain Palestinians were Osaid Jabarin, 51, a surgeon who was on his way to work at the Jenin Governmental hospital, Basem Turkman, 53, Muhammad Abu Amira, 50, Allam Jaradat, 48, Osama Hujeir, 16, Mahmoud Hamadneh, 15, Jihad Taleb, 37, Mahmoud Qireini, 16, Sami Qaisi, 18, and Waseem Jaradat, 15.

The invasion started on Tuesday morning and ended in the first hours of Thursday. Dozens of Israeli armored vehicles, supported by bulldozers and drones, entered the Jenin refugee camp from various sides. Israeli troops bulldozed streets and destroyed civilian infrastructure as soldiers raided houses and conducted field interrogations of residents. According to local media sources, the Israeli raid lasted for nearly 40 hours.

Thousands of residents fled the camp as Israeli forces imposed a strict closure on the area, interrogating fleeing residents and arresting dozens. Meanwhile, heavy fighting erupted between Israeli forces and Palestinian resistance fighters, who used locally-made explosive devices and live ammunition against the invading force. Media sources reported from local residents that three Israeli armored vehicles were damaged.

As Israeli forces withdrew from Jenin early on Thursday, Palestinian families began to return to the camp amid widespread damage to infrastructure. The Jenin municipality said in a statement that losses in civilian infrastructure from this latest raid alone amounted to eight million dollars.

READ THE FULL MONDOWEISS REPORT ON THE JENIN RAID

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As of October 7, Jenin has been the target of the most violent Israeli raids in the West Bank since 2022. Infrastructure in the camp has been largely damaged by Israeli bulldozers, especially electricity and water networks, which have been torn out by Israeli bulldozers several times over the past year. The scale of the destruction has led residents to call the camp “Little Gaza.”

With the latest massacre in Jenin, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers since October 7 has risen to 519, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.