Battle of Jenin (2002)

Not to be confused with Battle of Jenin (1948).

Battle of Jenin
Part of Operation Defensive Shield and the Second Intifada

Aerial photograph of the battle area in Jenin, taken two days after the battle ended
DateApril 1–11, 2002 (Israeli troop withdrawal began April 18)
Location
Jenin, Israeli-occupied West Bank
Result Israeli victory[1][2]
Belligerents

 Israel

Palestinian Authority Fatah

Hamas Hamas
Palestinian Islamic Jihad Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Independent Palestinian mujahid factions
Commanders and leaders
Yehuda Yedidya
Eyal Shlein
Ofek Buchris		 Hazem Qabha  †
Zakaria Zubeidi
Mahmoud Tawalbe  †
Strength
1 reserve infantry brigade
2 regular infantry battalions
Commando teams[3]
12 D9 armored bulldozers		 Some 200 – several hundreds[3][4]
Casualties and losses
23 dead
52 wounded[3]		 52 dead (at least 27 militants and 22 civilians) per HRW[5]
53 dead (48 militants[6] and 5 civilians) per the IDF
Dozens of houses destroyed according to the IDF[3]
according to HRW at least 140 buildings completely destroyed, severe damage caused 200 additional buildings rendered uninhabitable or unsafe.[5]

The Battle of Jenin, took place in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on April 1–11, 2002. The Israeli military invaded the camp, and other areas under the administration of the Palestinian Authority, during the Second Intifada, as part of Operation Defensive Shield.

Israeli forces employed infantry, commando forces, and assault helicopters. Palestinian militants had prepared for a fight, booby trapping locations throughout the camp, and after an Israeli column walked into an ambush, the army began to rely more heavily on the use of armored bulldozers. On April 11, Palestinian militants began to surrender. Israeli troops began withdrawing from the camp on April 18.

Despite reports of a widespread massacre numbering hundreds of casualties by some Palestinian officials, subsequent investigations found no evidence to substantiate it, and official totals from Palestinian and Israeli sources confirmed between 52 and 54 Palestinians, including civilians, and 23 Israeli soldiers as having been killed in the fighting.[7][8][9] Israel did not allow emergency workers into the camp after the battle with Palestinian militants had ended, drawing condemnation from a UN envoy.[10] The battle led to widespread destruction of the camp, as at least 140 buildings were completely destroyed, and severe damage was caused to 200 additional buildings rendered uninhabitable or unsafe.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Time was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Lieutenant Colonel David Kilcullen (December 2003). "Tactics, The Essential Debate: Combined Arms and the Close Battle in Complex Terrain" (PDF). Australian Army Journal. 1 (2). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 12, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference harel257-258 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference UNreport was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b "Jenin: IDF Military Operations". Human Rights Watch. 14, No. 3 (E) (May 2002). Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved September 21, 2008.
  6. ^ Every Palestinian male between 15 and 55 was counted as a militant. See "Israel and the Occupied Territories Shielded from Scrutiny: IDF violations in Jenin and Nablus". Amnesty International. Retrieved October 22, 2015.: P.12 
  7. ^ Dickey, Christopher (January 14, 2009). "The Crying Game". Newsweek. - "histrionic claims by Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat that 1,000 civilians had been killed. (In fact, about 50 Palestinians had fought and died in a ferocious battle that also cost the lives of 23 Israeli soldiers.)"
  8. ^ Burston, Bradley. "Sderot as Stalingrad, Hamas as blind Samson". Haaretz. - "On April 7, senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat suggested to CNN that some 500 Palestinians had been killed in the camp. Five days later, when the fighting stopped, PA Secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman told UPI that the number was in the thousands, hinting, along with other Palestinian figures, that Israel had snatched bodies, buried Palestinians in mass graves and under the rubble of ruined buildings, and otherwise conducted on a scale compatible with genocide."
    - "A subsequent UN investigation determined that 52 Palestinians had been killed in the fighting, most of them armed members of Palestinian militias and militant groups. A total of 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in the fighting."
  9. ^ Krauss, Joseph. "Weary West Bank fighters watch Gaza assault from afar". The Jordan Times. AFP. - "Fifty-four Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in the melee."
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference jenincamp was invoked but never defined (see the help page).