Israel is doing its best to minimise civilian casualties in Jenin, an Israeli MP has insisted.

Speaking to the BBC, Danny Danon, an MP from PM Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, said Israeli forces were only targeting "militants carrying weapons and carrying out terrorist activities".

It was put to Danon that it was almost impossible to launch targeted attacks on such a densely populated area.

The Jenin refugee camp is home to an estimated 14,000 people, living in an area of just 0.42 sq km (0.16 sq miles).

Danon said it was a "sophisticated" operation and insisted several times that Israel was trying to minimise civilian casualties.

He said the operation was launched after Jenin had become a "hub for terrorism", and said Israel was acting to ensure "security and stability" for Israelis.

Danon said the military operation make take hours or days, adding that Israel has no intention to stay in that region forever.

Image source, Getty Images

We've heard from Mustafa Barghouti, the leader of the Palestinian National Initiative Party.

He tells BBC News that the Jenin attacks are "massive" and Palestinian infrastructure and civilians are suffering.

He says: "It’s very sad what’s happening.

"Jenin refugee camp is an area of almost 20,000 refugees who have been displaced by Israel."

"It’s a highly densely populated area, and Israel is using an apache helicopter, drone, tanks and armoured vehicles to attack the civilian population there," he says.

"So far, they’ve been attacking not only the people, but hospitals. Bullets entered the hospitals where patients are lying… they have attacked our cars, they have attacked our ambulances," he adds.

The BBC has not confirmed his claims that hospitals and ambulances have been attacked. Israel says the refugee camp is being used as a control centre for terrorist groups to carry out attacks on Israel and says its forces are trying to minimise civilian casualties.

Anna Foster
BBC Middle East correspondent, Jerusalem

Image source, EPA

Hours after the assault began, Israeli soldiers are still operating inside Jenin camp.

They say they’ve been involved in exchanges of fire with Palestinian militants, and located an explosives manufacturing facility containing hundreds of devices.

The US has expressed its support for what it calls Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorist groups. But the Palestinian president Mohammed Shtayyeh said Israel would never enjoy security through its aggression.

This is the most significant military operation in the occupied West Bank in years, and while it continues, it's difficult to know exactly how many people may have been killed or injured.

Here's some more footage we've received today.

This clip from the AFP news agency shows Palestinians in a Jenin hospital car park.

Explosions are heard as the Israeli military vehicles approach the entrance, and some of the Palestinians throw objects as the trucks rush past.

Jeremy Bowen
International Editor

Image source, Getty Images

I was in Jenin about a week ago. It is a bustling market town with a huge vegetable market in the middle.

About a fifth of Israel’s population are Palestinian Arabs, and many of them cross over into the West Bank and come to Jenin to buy food because it’s cheaper there.

Just slightly separate from the town centre is the refugee camp.

We tried to enter the camp, though I got a call to go to Ukraine before we managed to do so.

The camp was absolutely under the control of the armed groups. I was in touch with the people who controlled the camp, and they wanted our photo before they went in.

Those are the people who the Israelis are targeting. They say they are terrorists who are out to kill Jews, and - correctly - that they have mounted dozens of attacks from that camp.

It’s a dense area, and the chances of wider casualties are pretty strong.

People live very close together, and with bullets flying around and air strikes taking place, the chances of civilians getting caught up in this are very high.

A big question is the degree to which various armed groups will respond to the Israeli operation. Will there be some kind of attempt to hit back elsewhere?

In short, it's a refugee camp in the city of Jenin, which is located in the north of the occupied West Bank.

The Jenin camp has been around since the early 1950s and was set up for Palestinians displaced during the 1948-49 war, which surrounded Israel’s creation.

The UN's Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, says, external it's currently home to some 14,000 people, who live in an area of only 0.42 sq km (0.16 sq miles).

Yolande Knell
BBC Middle East correspondent, Jenin

Image source, Reuters

We’re here in the heart of Jenin, not very far away is its refugee camp.

But that’s been declared an Israeli military closed zone, so we can’t enter as journalists at the moment.

We can see large plumes of smoke that are going up from there, and very regularly we hear loud bursts of gunfire and explosions as well. There is a constant hum overhead from Israeli military drones.

That’s unusual here in the West Bank - it's something more associated with military operations in the Gaza Strip. Apart from one occasion, we have not really had Israeli military drones used here in the West Bank.

Here in the town, it’s eerily quiet apart from the sound of ambulances, because there is a general strike. All the shops and local businesses have closed. People are waiting and watching to see what happens, listening as we are to the sounds of fighting.

There are ambulances going by at the moment. They have been struggling to reach the dozens of people who we know are injured inside the camp.

The Israeli military has been cutting off telephone communications and electricity during its operation, which has made it difficult for us - and for the ambulance workers - to get accurate figures on the numbers of people injured.

Israel says its forces found explosives during a search of a mosque in the Jenin refugee camp.

In a statement shared moments ago, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said soldiers found "explosive devices, weapons and military equipment" it claims were affiliated with terrorist organisations in the area.

The statement reads: "Over the last few hours, exchanges of fire between Israeli security forces and Palestinian gunmen took place in the Jenin Camp at a mosque that is affiliated with terrorist organizations in the area.

"Following ISA and IDF intelligence, IDF soldiers searched the underground floor of the mosque, in which armed assailants had barricaded themselves."

It goes on: "The soldiers are currently confiscating and neutralizing the weapons."

Image source, IDF

Image source, EPA

The director of a theatre in Jenin has told the BBC that civilians seeking shelter in its yard were hit by fire from Israeli drones.

Mustafa Sheta of the Freedom Theatre told the BBC World Service's Newshour programme he was not at the theatre at the time, but has been told that "a big group of people" had fled towards the theatre after their homes were attacked with rockets.

"They tried to find a safe space. So they decided to protect themselves in the yard of the theatre... at 9am in the morning they faced the rockets from these drones. They attacked the people there."

He said a number of people had been injured and taken to hospital.

The BBC has not been able to confirm his account.

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) said in a tweet earlier , externalthat "numerous sources have falsely accused the IDF of striking the Al-Huriya [Freedom] Theater", and branded the claims "fake".

Later, Israeli military spokesman, Major Nir Dinar said: “We didn’t target the theatre and it is completely fake news. We have posted a live satellite video showing that nothing happened to the theatre.

“It is a small place. Maybe it is nearby an area [that was bombed]. But the place itself was not targeted since it is not being used by terrorists.”

Sheta also accused Israeli forces of destroying the roads leading to the Jenin camp. He said they were positioned around the camp, creating a "big siege", rather than inside the camp.

"We are scared," Sheta says. "The situation makes you feel angry. I have children, I have family - I am trying to protect them."

The United States has expressed support for Israel's "right to defend" itself after it launched drone attacks on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

"We have seen the reports and are monitoring the situation closely," a White House spokesperson said.

"We support Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups."

Hamas says it is "ready to intervene" if Israel goes too far and "persists in its aggression" in Jenin, a spokesman for the militant group in Gaza has said.

Gaza, a narrow strip of Palestinian land physically separated from the occupied West Bank, has been controlled by Hamas since 2007.

Protests over this morning's attack are ongoing in Gaza.

Hazem Qassem described the military operation as a "serious escalation by the occupation [Israel] against our Palestinian people", with Israeli forces attacking a "narrow and crowded refugee camp" with planes and armoured vehicles.

Qassem says that the Israel "bears full responsibility for the repercussions of this great crime in Jenin".

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Image source, EPA

Israel’s military operation is aimed at the Jenin Brigades, a loose affiliation of mostly young gunmen who are completely outside the control of the Palestinian Authority.

These Jenin Brigades are not under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Israel says they are responsible for carrying out attacks on Israeli civilians.

The Israeli army put out an infographic this morning showing where a number of those attacks have been taking place over the past year or so. Overwhelmingly they are inside the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

What these people are targeting is the occupation - and that includes the Israeli army, but also Jewish settlements. That’s why Israeli civilians living there, in contravention of international law, are often targeted by these gunmen. Israel disputes that Jewish settlements, established since it conquered the West Bank in 1967, are illegal.

Israeli operations like this one are designed to flush out the gunmen. Members of Israel’s hard-right government have been urging the military to act for months.

But operations like this, often billed as dealing a decisive blow against terrorists, tend to bring rather short term benefits. There's always a fresh group of young gunmen willing to take their place.

And the point to remember here is that this is a new generation. These young gunmen have never known anything resembling a meaningful peace process. They don't see any prospects for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict.

They have absolutely no faith in their own political leadership, which they see as having done nothing to stop the inexorable Israeli colonisation of the West Bank. And so they are fighting the occupation the only way they know.

Footage recorded today by the AFP news agency shows Israeli forces firing tear gas towards people on the streets of Jenin. Men run from the gas, moving further up the street.

Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances are later seen driving into the city, near the Jenin refugee camp.

Nathan Williams
Live reporter

Heavy exchanges of fire are continuing between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

It's one of its biggest operations in the territory by Israel for years, with attacks by drones and ground forces.

The Palestinian health ministry says eight Palestinians have been killed and 50 others wounded. Ambulances are struggling to reach them because of the intensity of the fighting.

The Israelis said at least seven people had been killed, describing them as terrorists.

I'm taking over from Heather Sharp and will keep you updated along with my colleagues in London and our team on the ground.

Israel will push on with the military operation for as long as it takes to "break the mindset" that Jenin is a "a safe haven for terrorists", a spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) says.

Lt Col Richard Hecht has told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme there was "consensus within our leadership that this is a much needed operation".

He said it was an ongoing situation which could last for days:

"We’re in the midst of this operation. We’re not there to hold ground or stay there, we’re focused on specific targets inside the camp. So it can take hours or maybe a day or two, as long as it takes to break the mindset of that place being a safe haven for terrorists."

Asked why the operation was being launched on the refugee camp now, he pointed to an "upscale in attacks" on Israelis by people operating inside Jenin.

He said Israel's mission would focus on Jenin only, and that where people surrendered, the IDF would arrest them.

"But most of these people are shooting at us," he replied, when asked about reported fatalities, of which eight have been confirmed so far.

Image source, EPA

We have received these pictures of Palestinian gunmen exchanging fire with the Israeli military in Jenin.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Israeli is carrying out an invasion in the West Bank, not a military operation, a Palestinian diplomat has told the BBC.

Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK, says Israel's military has been using the "pretext" of militant operations to attack Palestinians "for decades".

He tells BBC Radio 4's World at One programme that the "killing and the shelling know no limits and [Israel's armed forces] don't distinguish".

"The only threat to Israel is its expansion, its colonialism, its occupation, its control and subjugation of an entire nation," he adds.

"Israel wants to crush our soul, our people, our population, wants to continue militarily occupying us, wants to continue its illegal settlement expansion in the occupied territory."

Zomlot also rejects Israel's claims it attacks only military targets which threaten it, stating that "people have the right to resist" a military occupation under international law.

The diplomat also singles out the international community for "allowing this culture of impunity for Israel" which he says sends messages that Israeli settlers "will be protected no matter what".

We're bringing you some more video from Jenin.

In this video, the BBC's Middle East bureau chief Jo Floto assesses the situation as Israel launches a major military operation in the occupied West Bank.

Joel Greenberg
BBC Monitoring

Image source, EPA

There has been increasing pressure within the Israeli government from far-right cabinet ministers to carry out a wider operation against militants in the Jenin area.

This has been after a previous raid in which seven Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded, as well as several Israeli soldiers and border policemen.

The area has been seen by Israel as a hotbed of resistance when its forces have gone in to make arrests.

So this was expected in terms of Israel’s political balance within the cabinet.

There’s a large anti-government protest at Israel’s international airport today, so some questions have been raised about the timing. But this was long expected - though it was not clear how wide it would be.

On the Palestinian side, a spokesman for the Palestinian president called the operation a war crime, and called for international intervention.

From a Palestinian perspective, this is an attack on a civilian area, and reports in the Palestinian media make less of a distinction between military and civilian casualties.

But clearly, this is urban fighting occurring in a very crowded residential area.

Image source, EPA

The Israeli army has "no intention" of occupying the Jenin refugee camp, or even to "stay in the area for a long time", according to a senior Israeli Army officer.

The officer says Israeli forces are currently inside the Jenin camp and are "carrying out raids based on accurate intelligence" using "special combat techniques" for warfare in built-up areas to reduce civilian casualties.

So far Israeli forces have detained 15 to 20 people and attacked "terrorists, weapons, explosives and infrastructure" in several air strikes, the officer adds.

The operation is not, however, "bounded by time or space", the officer's update says.