Israel’s helicopter raid in Jenin ‘dangerous escalation’: Palestine

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA): Palestine has condemned Israel’s use of a military helicopter during a recent raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.

Five Palestinians were killed and 91 others injured when Israeli forces raided Jenin city on Monday, according to the Health Ministry.

An Israeli military helicopter fired missiles at a residential building during the raid, marking the first use of military aircraft by Israel in the West Bank since 2002, witnesses said.

The raid triggered clashes with angry local residents during which Israeli forces used live fire, tear gas canisters and sound bombs.

In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry termed Israel’s use of a military helicopter during the raid a “dangerous escalation”.

This escalation “is an attempt by Israel’s ruling coalition to export its internal crisis and problems to the Palestinian scene,” the ministry said and called for a firm US and international stance “that rises to the level of what our people are facing from settler colonialism and crimes of persecution, oppression and abuse.”

“A fierce and open war is being waged against the Palestinian people politically, security and economically by the occupation forces,” Hussein Al-Sheikh, Secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s Executive Committee, said in a statement.

“We are in the midst of a comprehensive battle on all fronts that requires the unity of our people in the face of this aggression,” he added.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank in recent months amid repeated Israeli raids into Palestinian towns.

Nearly 165 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of this year.