Israeli forces intensified airstrikes on Gaza and targeted the Jenin refugee camp, resulting in an airstrike hitting a mosque associated with the Jenin Brigade.
The airstrike targeted a mosque associated with the Jenin Brigade, labeled an “underground terrorist group” by Israel, reported Al Jazeera on Sunday.
According to Israeli sources, the Al-Ansar mosque was associated with the Jenin Brigade, labelled an “underground terrorist group” by Israel and added that they were “neutralised”, without giving details on the number killed in the strike or their identities.
The director of the Red Crescent in Jenin, Mahmoud Al-Saadi, was quoted by the Palestinian news agency Wafa saying one person was martyred and three others injured in the strike.
Dozens of people have been martyred in the West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers since October 7, when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel and killed at least 1,400 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli reports.
Meanwhile, Israel has launched heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip in retaliation, which has martyred more than 4,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians including over 1,000 children, according to the Gaza health ministry.
According to Al Jazeera correspondent Sara Khairat, the air strike took residents “by surprise” but it appears there may still be more to come.
“Eyewitness spoke to us and said they saw an F-fighter jet in the sky, they heard it and then the Israeli army came out to confirm it was an air strike,” said Khairat live from Ramallah.
The mosque was the site of a two-day Israeli siege in July when Israeli forces found a network of tunnels and seized equipment, drones, and ammunition, she said.
Following the attack, some residents received text messages on their phones warning them to avoid collaborating with the Jenin Brigade, one of the largest and most popular groups in the West Bank.
The messages also said to keep children inside, Al Jazeera reported.
There are also unconfirmed reports of an Israeli officer calling residents and telling them to turn their “youngsters” over to the police by 7am.
Jenin, a Palestinian camp in Israel, has faced Israeli antagonisation since 2002, with incidents like the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last year.
However, with Israel’s latest incursions, Palestinians in Jenin are being reintroduced to airborne terror in densely populated spaces, causing displacement of refugees already displaced in Gaza.
This highlights the ongoing Israeli antagonisation and the need for more effective strategies to address these issues.
The US will send a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and additional Patriot air defence missile system battalions to the Middle East, the Pentagon said on Saturday, in response to recent attacks on US troops in the region.
The US has sent a significant amount of naval power to the Middle East in recent weeks, including two aircraft carriers, their support ships and about 2,000 Marines.
