Israel's military incursion on Jenin refugee camp officially over: army

Israel's military has declared the end of a two-day incursion in the Jenin refugee camp of the occupied West Bank during 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed.

"The operation is officially over and the soldiers have left the Jenin area," a military spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The Israeli military launched the military raid on the Jenin refugee camp early on Monday under the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government.

The raid, Israel's biggest military incursion in years in the occupied Palestenian territory, employed hundreds of Israeli troops as well as drone strikes and army bulldozers that ripped up streets.

The United Nation's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, had condemned the incursion and called for the “killing, maiming and the destruction of property” to end.

“This week’s violence in the occupied West Bank risks spiralling out of control, fuelled by strident political rhetoric, and an escalation in the use of advanced military weaponry by Israel,” Turk said in a statement as the incursion was still taking place.

He added that the raid was a “major intensification of the use of weaponry more generally associated with the conduct of armed hostilities, rather than a law enforcement situation”.

Israeli forces had started to withdraw from the refugee camp late Tuesday, a military spokesman said.

Strikes on besieged Gaza

Israel later launched air strikes on Gaza after intercepting five rockets fired at Israel from the blockaded Palestinian territory.

A Palestinian security source said the attack hit a military site of the Hamas movement in northern Gaza but caused no injuries.

During the military raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the army claimed it had uncovered militant hideouts, arms depots and an underground shaft used to store explosives.

The Israeli military also claimed its forces had dismantled six explosives manufacturing facilities and three operational situation rooms in Jenin, and confiscated large quantities of weapons.

The Palestinian health ministry said the large-scale Israeli army assault on Jenin refugee camp had killed 12 Palestinians.

The Israeli army said one soldier was killed by "live fire" late Tuesday.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Excluding occupied east Jerusalem, the territory is now home to around 490,000 Israelis in settlements considered illegal under international law.

Palestinians have been seeking their own independent state since Zionist forces took Mandatory Palestine to establish Israel in 1948. Palestinians want Israel to withdraw from all land it illegally seized in 1967 and to dismantle all illegal Jewish settlements.