Photo by
Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry/TPS-IL on 29 January, 2025
Israeli Defense Minister in Jenin: ‘We Have Declared War on Terror’
Jerusalem, 29 January, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz visited the Jenin refugee camp on Wednesday, where he vowed to eradicate Palestinian terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria.
“We have declared war on Palestinian terror in Judea and Samaria. Operation ‘Iron Wall’ aims to dismantle the terror infrastructure built in the Palestinian refugee camps with Iranian funding and weapons,” Katz said.
Accompanied by senior IDF commanders, Katz held a situational assessment and pledged that the ongoing counterterror operation would expand to additional terror hubs.
“The Jenin refugee camp will not return to what it was. After the operation is completed, IDF forces will remain in the camp to ensure that terror does not return,” Katz said.
Katz was briefed on the weapons confiscated from within the camp, comparing the findings to those seen in Gaza.
Directly addressing the Palestinian Authority, Katz warned Ramallah against continuing to support terror groups.
“Stop funding terror and the murder of Jews. Start seriously fighting terrorism. Those who finance the families of murderers and educate their children to seek Israel’s destruction endanger their own existence,” he said.
The army’s Jenin raid, dubbed “Operation Iron Wall,” launched on January 21, comes on the heels of the Palestinian Authority’s failed crackdown in the Jenin refugee camp.
Previous Israeli counterterror operations in 2023 and 2024 in the Jenin camp uncovered a tunnel shaft, a rocket launcher, large amounts of weapons and bomb-making laboratories. As of 2023, just over 24,000 registered refugees were living in the camp that Palestinians have dubbed “The Martyr’s Capital.”
