Israel blows up Jenin bakery to assassinate resistance fighter!

JENIN, West Bank (PNN) - August 17, 2023 - Israeli troops launched a brutal and destructive raid into the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on 17 August, which resulted in the killing of a Palestinian resistance fighter and the destruction of a bakery.

According to Israeli media outlet Walla, this raid marks Israel’s first assassination operation inside Jenin since the brutal operation last month.

According to the army, Israeli troops went into Jenin to target a “cell” affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement. Two Palestinians were detained during the raid, and one was killed.

The dead resistance fighter has been identified as 32-year-old Mustafa al-Kastouni, a member of the Fatah-linked resistance faction, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade.

Kastouni was shot in the head, chest, and abdomen during clashes with Israeli forces. The bakery in which he was taking cover was then blown up by Israeli troops right after his assassination.

Fighters from the PIJ Jenin Brigade were engaged in the clashes alongside Kastouni.

In a statement, the Jenin Brigade said, “We exalt the martyrdom of the fighter Mustafa Al-Kastouni, one of the fighters of Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, who ascended to martyrdom during his confrontation with the occupation forces, alongside our fighters in the Jenin Brigade.”

During the clashes, an Israeli soldier was injured by the bullets of the resistance. Israeli military vehicles were also targeted with explosive devices and gunfire. Damage was also inflicted on some factories in the industrial area of the Shaked settlement, in the northern West Bank, as a result of gunfire from the fighters in Jenin.

The heavy clashes follow a massive Israeli army incursion into Nablus’ Balata refugee camp one day earlier.

During the incursion, several were injured and dozens were suffocated from Israeli tear gas. Several groups, including the PIJ Nablus Brigade and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, engaged in heavy clashes with Israeli forces, destroying an army vehicle.

Thursday’s raid in Jenin comes as tension has been high between the Jenin resistance and the Palestinian Authority (PA) due to the latter’s arrest campaign against its fighters.

On August 14, PIJ and Fatah officials held a rare meeting in Gaza, where they agreed to maintain dialogue and continue working for unity.