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JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — Israeli forces appeared to have withdrawn from three refugee camps in the occupied West Bank by Friday morning, after a more than weeklong military operation that left dozens dead and a trail of destruction.
Israeli soldiers shot and killed an American woman participating in an anti-settlement protest elsewhere in the West Bank, a witness said, The White House said it was “deeply distrubed” by the killing of the woman, identified as Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old who also held Turkish citizenship, and it called on Israel to investigate what happened.
The military's raids in the three refugee camps, involving hundreds of troops, have been the deadliest operation in the territory since the Israel-Hamas war began.
Overnight, Israeli armored personnel carriers were seen leaving the Jenin refugee camp from a checkpoint set up on one of the main roads. An Associated Press reporter inside the camp saw no evidence of any remaining troops inside as dawn broke Friday.
After days largely trapped in their homes, residents of the Jenin camp emerged to take stock of the damage from what officials said was the most destructive assault in years. Twisted rebar protruded from the concrete of collapsed buildings. Walls still standing were pockmarked by bullets and shrapnel.
During the operation, Israeli military officials said they were targeting militants in Jenin, Tulkarem and the Al-Faraa refugee camps in an attempt to curb recent attacks against Israeli civilians. They say such attacks have become more sophisticated and deadly since Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’ attack on Israel nearly 11 months ago.
Troops were pulled out of the Tulkarem camp by Friday morning and had left Al-Faraa earlier, but in a statement the Israeli military suggested that the operation wasn't yet over.
“Israeli security forces are continuing to act in order to achieve the objectives of the counterterrorism operation,” the military said in a statement.
The operation was part of a major escalation of violence in the West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, including Israeli raids and Palestinian militant attacks as well as increased Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians and heavier crackdowns on Palestinian protests. More than 690 Palestinians have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials.
Eygi was killed at a protest outside the northern West Bank town of Beita, on a hill overlooking a nearby settlement. A fellow protester, Johnathan Pollak, an Israeli, said clashes had broken out with Israeli troops firing tear gas and live ammunition at Palestinian protesters throwing stones. After the protesters retreated from the hill, he said he saw soldiers on a nearby rooftop open fire and Eygi fell bleeding to the ground. Doctors said she had been shot in the head.
The Israeli military said it was looking into reports that troops had killed a foreign national while firing at an “instigator of violent activity” in the area of the protest.
The main focus of the military's raids over the past 10 days has been the Jenin refugee camp, a densely built district home to around 20,000 Palestinians where armed groups – including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but also other factions advocating “resistance” to Israel’s occupation – have a powerful presence.
Fighting in Jenin accounts for 21 of 39 Palestinians who local health officials say have been killed during the Israeli push in the West Bank. The military says most have been militants.
The fighting has had a devastating effect on Palestinian civilians living in Jenin.
Water and electric services have been cut, families have been confined to their homes and ambulances evacuating the wounded have been stopped on their way to nearby hospitals, as Israeli soldiers search for militants. Israeli military bulldozers ripped up roads.
Jenin’s governor, Kamal Abu al-Rub, said that the damage to infrastructure was extensive.
“We had numerous invasions in the past, but this invasion is the most destructive,” he said. He said that ambulances came under fire during the assault, with one doctor wounded. The economy in the camp, where unemployment already ran at 21%, had been further wrecked, he said.
An Israeli military official speaking to the AP acknowledged the infrastructure destruction, but said it was because of militants’ strategy of planting explosives in civilian areas. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
Tulkarem camp saw similar damage. In the quiet morning on Friday, resident Ziad Abu Tahoun looked with dismay at the torn-up streets and crumbled buildings.
“Look at the condition of the camp, the camp is in a deplorable state,” he said. “They’ve set us back 60 years.”
In southern Gaza, health workers resumed vaccinating children against polio, continuing the second phase of a large-scale immunization campaign. The first phase started Sunday in hospitals and medical locations in the central Gaza Strip. The final phase was to focus on the north, finishing Sept. 9. In all, WHO hopes to be able to vaccinate 640,000 Palestinian children in Gaza against polio.
The operation was undertaken as an urgent measure to prevent a large-scale polio outbreak after health officials confirmed the first reported polio case in 25 years, in a 10-month-old boy who is now paralyzed in the leg.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas and other militants staged a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people, primarily civilians. Hamas is believed to still be holding more than 100 hostages. Israeli authorities estimate about a third are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry reports that more than 94,000 more have been wounded since the start of the war.
Israel has been under increasing pressure from the United States and other allies to reach a cease-fire deal in Gaza, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on a demand that has emerged as a major sticking point in talks — continued Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow band along Gaza’s border with Egypt where Israel contends Hamas smuggles weapons into Gaza. Egypt and Hamas deny it.
Hamas has accused Israel of dragging out months of negotiations by issuing new demands, including for lasting Israeli control over both the Philadelphi corridor and a second corridor running across Gaza.
Hamas has offered to release all hostages in return for an end to the war, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants — broadly the terms called for under an outline for a deal put forward by U.S. President Joe Biden in July.
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David Rising reported from Bangkok. Julia Frankel contributed to this story from Jerusalem.