JENIN, Palestinian Territories: The Israel Defense Forces (IDC) have ended their counter-terrorism operation in the West Bank town of Jenin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.
The announcement was made during his visit to the Salem checkpoint near Jenin, with the participation of Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
The raid on Jenin refugee camp, launched early on Monday under the directive of Netanyahu's hard-right government, employed hundreds of troops as well as drone strikes and army bulldozers that ripped up streets.
Israel began its largest air-and-ground offensive in the West Bank in years on the night from Sunday to Monday. The Israeli military aircraft launched more than 10 strikes at what the IDC described as "terrorist infrastructure" in the Jenin refugee camp, Sputnik reported. The Israeli military said it had seized an improvised missile launcher, weapons and ammunition.
Elsewhere a car ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv had wounded seven people before the suspect was shot dead on the second day of Israel's biggest military operation in years in the occupied West Bank.
"Israeli forces have started withdrawing from Jenin camp," an army spokesman told AFP late on Tuesday night, without offering further details.
Hours earlier explosions had been heard from the camp and a drone hovered overhead, an AFP correspondent reported.
Palestinian health ministry said two Palestinians were killed on Tuesday, taking the total death toll to 12 since the start of the raid that displaced from their homes.
"In the last five years, this is the worst raid," said Qasem Benighader, a nurse at a hospital morgue.
The army said its forces had dismantled six explosives manufacturing facilities, three operational situation rooms in Jenin and confiscated large quantities of weapons.
"The weapons were located in hideouts, a mosque, pits concealed in civilian areas, operational situation rooms, and in vehicles," it said.
The army said it had uncovered militant hideouts, arms depots and underground shafts used to store explosives.
Cycle of violence
The UN human rights chief denounced on Tuesday the latest cycle of violence in Israel, Tel Aviv and Jenin, saying the killings and woundings must cease.
"The recent operation in the occupied West Bank and car ramming attack in Tel Aviv worryingly underscore an all too familiar pattern of events: that violence only begets more violence," Volker Turk said in a statement.
"The killing, maiming and the destruction of property must stop."
Turk said some of the methods and weapons used in the Jenin raid "are more generally associated with the conduct of hostilities in armed conflict, rather than law enforcement".
"The use of airstrikes is inconsistent with rules applicable to the conduct of law enforcement operations. In a context of occupation, the deaths resulting from such airstrikes may also amount to wilful killings," he said.
Turk said Israeli forces in the West Bank needed to abide by international human rights standards on the use of force.
"These standards do not change simply because the goal of the operation is stated as 'counter-terrorism'," he said.
As the occupying power, "Israel must also ensure timely access to medical care to all those injured," he added.
The United States said its ally Israel had a right to "defend its people against... terrorist groups" but called for protection of civilians.
In the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, protesters burned tyres near the border fence with Israel.
'Cut off from world'
During a visit to an army base near Jenin, Netanyahu vowed to "uproot terrorism".
"We will not allow Jenin to go back to being a city of refuge for terrorism."
The Palestinian foreign ministry labelled the escalation "open war against the people of Jenin".
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders also condemned Israeli forces for firing tear gas inside Khalil Suleiman hospital in Jenin, calling it "unacceptable".
On Tuesday, shops in Jenin were closed amid a general strike and the near-empty streets littered with debris and burned roadblocks.
The army said it does not intend to stay in the camp housing about 18 000 people but was ready for prolonged fighting.
"The most dangerous is what happened inside the camp, where there is no electricity, no water, and no roads for those who need to go to hospital," Jenin mayor Nidal Abu Saleh told AFP.
About 3 000 people had fled their homes in the refugee camp, said deputy governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Roub.
Imad Jabarin, one of those leaving in the rubbles-strewn camp, said "all aspects of life have been destroyed, there is no electricity and no communications... we are cut off from the world to some extent".
The northern West Bank has seen a recent spate of attacks on Israelis as well as Jewish settler violence targeting Palestinians.
The Israel-Palestinian conflict has worsened since early last year, and escalated further under the Netanyahu government that includes extreme-right allies.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, meanwhile, praised the "heroic" attack in Tel Aviv as "an initial response to crimes against our people in the Jenin camp".
The driver in Tel Aviv was thought to have intentionally hit several pedestrians on a shopping street before getting out of the vehicle to "stab civilians with a sharp object", police said.
The "terrorist", a West Bank resident, was shot dead by an armed civilian passerby, said police chief Yaakov Shabtai.
Limited medical access
Christian Lindmeier, spokesman for the UN's World Health Organization, said that the destruction of infrastructure, including roads in Jenin, was restricting access for medical teams.
"Ambulances with medical teams have been prevented from entering parts of the refugee camp, including to reach persons who have been critically injured," he said.
"At least two hospitals have been affected with attacks involving the use of ammunition and gas canisters," he added.
The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) medical charity condemned a "denial of medical access" in Jenin.
"Ambulances have been rammed by armoured cars and patients and health care staff have routinely been denied entry and egress to the camp," said Jovana Arsenijevic, MSF operations co-ordinator in Jenin.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Israeli security forces must ensure Jenin had unimpeded access to health services, shelter, food and water.
"Ambulances and first responders must have unhindered access to wounded people and be able to provide emergency care without putting their own lives at risk," the ICRC said.
Displaced Palestinians
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967.
Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the territory is now home to around 490 000 Israelis in settlements considered illegal under international law.
The Palestinians, who seek their own independent state, want Israel to withdraw from all land it seized in 1967 and to dismantle all Jewish settlements.
Netanyahu, however, has pledged to "strengthen settlements" and expressed no interest in reviving peace talks, which have been moribund since 2014.
Jenin refugee camp, one of the most crowded and impoverished in the occupied West Bank, is synonymous with Palestinian militancy and resistance against Israel which views it as a "terrorism" hub.
In recent years it has been the site of fierce fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups.
The camp was established in 1953 to house some of those among the 760,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in 1948 when Israel was created, an event Palestinians call the Nakba or "catastrophe".
Today some 18 000 people live in the camp in the northern West Bank. It is just 0.43 square kilometres in size, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
Over time, the camp's original tents have been replaced by concrete, and it now resembles something closer to a neighbourhood.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Sputnik