Jenin raid: Helicopters used in deadly clash

STORY: Israeli commandos, backed by helicopter gunships, killed at least five Palestinians including a teenager during an unusually fierce clash in the occupied West Bank on Monday (June 19).

This group of Palestinian journalists were caught in the crossfire but later evacuated by ambulance. One was shot in the waist.

Troops raided the flashpoint town of Jenin to arrest Palestinians suspected of attacks and came under fire from gunmen, Israel's military said.

Video obtained by Reuters shows an explosion enveloping an armored troop transport as shots ring out.

At least seven Israeli military personnel were wounded.

In a rare strike by helicopter that showed the severity of the fighting, an Apache fired on an open area to drive back gunmen, a military spokesperson said, as casualties were brought out of the troop transport.

Under heavy fire, the army was forced to mount an extraction mission to pull out a number of its vehicles trapped in the fighting.

The Palestinian health ministry said at least 66 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes. Yousef Saqer's 15-year-old son Ahmed was killed.

"He was decent, polite and respectful but his problem was that the moment the (Israeli) army raided, he ran towards them. He wanted to (die) after his friend Omar was killed. The death of his friend Omar was very painful for him."

At least two of the dead belonged to Islamic Jihad.

The armed group said Israel's use of aircraft, quote, "will push our fighters to use tools that will surprise the enemy."

Hamas said its fighters also took part in the clashes.

And an official from the Fatah party said fighters from nearby cities had arrived in Jenin to support the local gunmen.

Jenin and other areas of the northern West Bank have been a focus of months of stepped-up raids by Israel amid a spate of Palestinian street attacks in its cities.