Thousands of Palestinians have fled the Jenin refugee camp after the Israeli army launched a major operation in the occupied West Bank, reports in the Guardian and AFP news agency stated.
Israel on Monday launched its most intense military operation in the occupied West Bank in nearly two decades, carrying out a series of drone strikes and sending hundreds of troops on an open-ended mission into a militant stronghold.
At least 10 people were killed, with 100 injured, 20 of them critically, the Palestinian health ministry said.
“There are about 3,000 people who have left the camp so far,” Jenin deputy governor Kamal Abu al-Roub told the AFP new agency, adding that arrangements were being made to house them in schools and other shelters in the city of Jenin. He said about 18,000 Palestinians normally reside in the camp.
The Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service gave the same figure and said it expected the exodus to continue, amid suggestions from Israel the operation could last for days.
Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, confirmed to AFP that residents of the camp were leaving. UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said many camp residents were in need of food, drinking water and milk powder.
The camp on the outskirts of the northern West Bank city of Jenin was set up in the 1950s and the ghetto-like area has long been viewed as a hotbed of what Palestinians consider armed resistance and Israelis see as terrorism.
