JERUSALEM

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that the army will maintain a presence in Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank after its ongoing military operation there.

“The camp will not return to what it was. Even after the operation ends, Israeli forces will stay to ensure that ‘terrorism’ does not return,” Katz said in a video statement from Jenin.

He, however, did not specify the date of ending the operation in the camp.

Katz also called the Palestinian Authority to stop funding what he called “the killing of Jews.”

At least 16 Palestinians have been killed and over 50 others injured in an ongoing Israeli military operation in the Jenin refugee camp since Jan. 21.

The escalation in the West Bank came as a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal took effect in in Gaza on Jan. 19, following 15 months of Israel’s genocidal war that killed over 47,400 people and injured over 111,000 others.

According to Israeli media, the Jenin assault is partly aimed at pacifying far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who opposed the ceasefire in Gaza and demanded harsher measures against Palestinians.

At least 880 Palestinians have been killed and more than 6,700 injured by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the outbreak of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Health Ministry.

In July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories illegal, calling for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.