As Israeli forces entered one of the most volatile communities in the occupied West Bank a gunfight occurred on June 19, killing at least five Palestinians and injuring scores more as the Israeli military struggled to rescue troops under heavy fire.
Palestinian Ministry of Health informs, two of the five people killed were in their teens and three were in their twenties. According to the ministry, at least 91 people were injured in the conflicts, with 23 of them in critical to severe condition. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) report that eight Israeli personnel were injured and later, successfully evacuated.
IDF reports that Israeli Air Force assault helicopters opened fire from above Jenin to assist Israeli troops in leaving the city.
Richard Hecht, IDF international spokesperson told CNN that Israeli troops and vehicles had left Jenin around 11 hours after Palestinian sources first reported the incursion.
Hecht had stated that the soldiers were "not trapped" and that they had "moved to other protected vehicles involved in the extraction."
Israel Army Radio says that it was the first time since the Second Intifada, a major Palestinian rebellion that took place from 2000 to 2005, that Israeli helicopters opened fire while evacuating wounded troops.
The Jenin Brigade, a local militant group, said that its fighters had fired on an Israeli helicopter, forcing it to leave and that they had immobilized Israeli military vehicles with gunfire and ambushes.
Three Palestinians in their twenties and two teenagers were killed: Khalid Azam Asa'asa, 21, Qasam Faisal Abu Seriya, 29, Qais Majdi Adel Jabareen, 21, Ahmad Khaled Faysal Draghma, 19, and Ahmed Youssef Saqer, 15, the Palestinian Health Ministry informs.
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