Two members of Palestinian intelligence killed in Israeli gunfire in West Bank

The Palestinian health ministry announced that two members of the Palestinian intelligence service were killed and a third was critically wounded in the West Bank town of Jenin early Thursday in Israeli gunfire.

Local media quoted eyewitnesses as saying that a shootout erupted at dawn on Thursday when Israeli special forces raided Jenin after midnight to arrest two young men.

The Palestinian health ministry revealed that the two security personnel killed were from the West Bank city of Nablus and the other from a town near Jenin, aged 23 and 33.

It added that the third security personnel who was wounded underwent surgery at the Jenin governmental hospital.

Gunshots can be heard in footage shared by people on social media.

#جنين قلعة الثوار ، جنين أبو جندل ✌🇵🇸#شاهد من نقطة صفر pic.twitter.com/nrbyMGKcVS

— المصور وليد الدردساوي|𓂆 (@waleed_Emad92) June 9, 2021

Palestinian media reported that Israeli soldiers withdrew from Jenin after the shootout near the Palestinian intelligence headquarters on Nazareth Street.

Eyewitnesses reported that, upon their withdrawal, the Israeli army had called for reinforcements towards Jenin’s northern entrance, while armed Palestinian members from the Fatah Movement spread out in different areas of the town.

Between 1 and 11 April 2002, the Israeli army launched a deadly siege and assault on the Jenin refugee camp, an event many in the city have not forgotten.

The UN concluded that the Israeli army killed dozens of Palestinians in the tiny camp, which is only 0.4 square kilometres and hosts around 15,000 people.

Israel refused to allow members of a UN commission of inquiry, mandated by the Security Council, from conducting a full investigation. A subsequent report on the massacre compiled by the secretary-general concluded that at least 52 Palestinians were killed in the attack on the Jenin refugee camp.