A PALESTINIAN teenager and three brothers were among at least six people killed in an Israeli air attack on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to reports.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa said that an Israeli drone fired three missiles at a group of people near a traffic roundabout in the camp on Tuesday evening, killing six people, including a 15-year-old boy, and injuring several others.
Five other victims of the attack were aged between 23 and 34, and included three brothers, Wafa reports. Earlier this month, an Israeli drone strike on the occupied West Bank’s Tammun town killed two Palestinian children and a 23-year-old from the same family.
Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said the drone strike on the Jenin camp comes amid intense Israeli military raids on local communities and the killing by Israeli forces of almost 800 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023 – as well as the arrest of several thousand others.
“Israel’s defence minister has said that Israel will continue this policy across the West Bank,” Salhut said, adding that the violence in the occupied territory is now known as Israel’s “silent war”.
“It’s become known as the silent war – parallel, side by side with what Israel is doing in Gaza, but not getting as much attention,” Salhut said.
The deadly drone strike also comes amid a military operation launched in the Jenin camp by the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) security forces over the last several weeks, targeting Palestinian resistance fighters, which has resulted in more than a dozen people killed.
Anwar Rajab, a spokesperson for the PA’s security forces, said the attack was intended to “disrupt efforts” by the authority to achieve security and stability in Jenin.
Hassan Khraisheh, the deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said the drone strike demonstrated Israel’s willingness to kill Palestinians indiscriminately.
“This is a clear message from the Israeli occupation that every Palestinian is a target,” Khraisheh told Al Jazeera.
