Palestinians run during clashes with Israeli forces amid an Israeli military operation in Jenin. July 3, 2023. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta

i24 News – A European envoy to the Palestinian territories on Saturday lambasted Israel, questioning the “proportionality” of the force it used in the Jenin anti-terrorism operation.

European Union representative to the Palestinian territories Sven Kuehn von Burgsdorff made the comments as he led an international delegation to the camp in the northern West Bank.

His remarks echoed UN chief Antonio Guterres who on Thursday told reporters “there was an excessive force used by Israeli forces” in its 48-hour operation, the largest Israel has staged in the Palestinian territory for years.

“We are concerned about the deployment of weaponry and weapons systems which question the proportionality of the military during the operation,” Kuehn von Burgsdorff said of the operation in which 12 Palestinian terrorists and one Israeli soldier were killed.

“This cycle of violence has to end, it cannot continue. If there is no political solution to the conflict, we are going to stand here in a week’s time, in a month’s time, in a year’s time, with nothing changed,” he added.

Jenin is a center for multiple armed Palestinian groups, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the refugee camp a “terrorist nest.”