Hamas and the Islamic Jihad announced today that they hold Israel fully responsible for the repercussions of its military operation in the occupied city of Jenin, in the northern West Bank.
In separate statements, the movements condemned the Israeli occupation forces’ military manoeuvres in which three Palestinians were killed and more than a dozen were injured, some seriously.
Islamic Jihad said: “The Zionist enemy bears full responsibility for all the consequences of this attack, which will not achieve its goals. Jenin will remain a symbol of steadfastness.”
“The resistance will confront the enemy and will defend the Palestinian people. All the options are available to strike the enemy in response to its aggression in Jenin,” it added.
Hamas added: “The attack against Jenin will fail, and [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu and his government bear responsibility for what is happening.”
Head of the movement’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, said: “The blood that is being shed in Jenin will determine the nature of the next stage in all its paths and stages.”
“Our people and their resistance everywhere know how to respond to this aggression.”
The Israeli army had said that it had launched a joint operation with the security agency Shin Bet targeting the command headquarters of a joint operations room in Jenin camp.
It added: “The security forces raided the joint operations room of the resistance factions in the Jenin camp and members of the so-called Jenin Brigade.”
“The headquarters was also a reconnaissance room, a meeting place for militants before and after hostile activities, an arming area with weapons and explosive devices, and a communication centre for activists to communicate,” it noted.
Source: Middle East Monitor
