West Bank city buries militants killed in Israel raid
Armed Palestinians join the funeral procession for three militants killed in an overnight raid by the Israeli army on Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank
Jenin – Three Palestinian militants were buried in the occupied West Bank on Friday after mourners marched through streets still smouldering from a night of violence triggered by an Israeli raid.
“They can do anything they want — on our side, we are ready, we will fight and we will resist,” 18-year-old militant Majid Abu Zmawa told AFP outside the mortuary in the northern city of Jenin where the bodies were prepared for burial.
Since Hamas launched an October 7 attack on Israel from Gaza killing 1,400 people, tensions in the West Bank have boiled over with a sharp increase in Israeli incursions into Palestinian towns and cities.
As Israeli forces pound Gaza with incessant air strikes and a ground assault which the Hamas-run health ministry says has killed more than 9,200 people, local authorities say more than 140 have been killed in the West Bank.
“They claim that they are an undefeatable army but God is with us,” said Abu Zmawa, strapping on a green headband with an assault rifle slung across his shoulder. “Martyrs will go to God.”
– ‘Blow the pressure away’ –
The Israeli army said it battled “armed assailants” in Jenin overnight, killing “several”.
An aircraft struck “an armed cell that hurled explosive devices” whilst a gun battle broke out and “ready-to-use” roadside bombs were discovered, a statement said.
The Palestinian health ministry said eight people were killed in overnight raids across the West Bank.
It said three men aged between 17 and 26 were killed in Jenin, a hotbed of militant activity, but did not specify whether the dead were combatants.
The surface of a road near where the procession started was scarred with caterpillar tracks.
Residents said Israeli bulldozers had torn it up in an apparent attempt to expose roadside bombs, though the army reported no casualties in the pre-dawn raid.
Sidestreets were littered with hedgehog tank traps welded from metal girders and walls were postered with the images of dead militants.
Residents milled about next to a crushed car. One man picked up a handful of dust from what remained of the road surface and let it run through his fingers.
“The (Israeli) army is under pressure,” said Amer Torkman, whose convenience store is now fronted by a mess of churned tarmac. “They want to blow the pressure away, so they don’t leave anything alone here.
“All the material stuff can be rebuilt,” the 54-year-old said. “We just hope the people remain safe and sound.”
– Balaclava funeral –
The bodies of the three militants emerged from the hospital mortuary held aloft on stretchers.
One was wrapped in the Palestinian flag, another the flag of the Islamic Jihad movement.
Like Hamas, which Israel has vowed to destroy in punishment for its October 7 attacks, the Iran-backed group, which is also active in Gaza, is blacklisted as a a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States.
At one point an assault rifle was hefted up onto one of the stretchers as a crowd of young men chanting in unison marched through the streets past the smouldering remains of burnt tyres.
Later a boy barely in his teens led the procession, struggling to carry an assault rifle.
More children trailed behind carrying the black and yellow colours of Islamic Jihad, as men in balaclavas fired in the air.
The procession closed in on a mosque where militants carried their guns inside for funeral prayers.
The bodies emerged shortly after and were carried to a prepared grave.
One armed man pulled down his balaclava to kiss one of the dead before all three were lowered into the earth.