«Right now we are completing the mission and I can say that our extensive activity in Jenin is not a one-time operation,» Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a checkpoint near the city.
Palestinian fighters from militant groups including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah had fortified the camp with roadblocks and checkpoints to counter regular army raids.
Power and water supplies remained cut off in the camp and in some areas of the city after bulldozers ripping through roads looking for makeshift bombs severed cables and a main water main.
Israeli forces discovered underground caches of explosives, one hidden in a tunnel under a mosque, seized 1,000 weapons and arrested 30 suspects, the army said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had evacuated 500 families from the camp, about 3,000 people.
Jihad Hassan, 63, who fled the camp after his son was injured, said a drone strike had prompted him to leave.
“You don’t hear any sound, you just see the explosion,” he said, as he waited with his son at Jenin Government Hospital. «It’s something, when a person is forced to leave their home.»
Around 100 people were injured, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, 20 of them seriously.