(CNN) — Israel’s military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin is coming to an end, but ‘it’s not over’ until the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say so, a spokesperson told CNN. Nations expresses deep concern over the violence in the city’s sprawling refugee camp.

At least 12 people, aged 16 to 23, were killed and dozens more injured after Israeli forces launched operations in the camp this week, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it was attacking Palestinian terrorists and one of its soldiers was killed in the operation.

UNICEF, the UN Children’s Agency, has reported that at least three children have lost their lives, while many others have been injured in the ongoing clashes.

In an interview with CNN, as the death toll reached 11, IDF chief spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said no ‘non-combatants’ were killed during the raid .

“Now we are on the verge of achieving our goals, inside Jenin, to fight terrorism and to dismantle terrorism in the countryside of Jenin,” Hagari said. “We achieve our objectives and when we achieve our objectives, the forces will leave the camp.”

Video obtained by CNN shows Israeli military vehicles beginning to withdraw from the occupied West Bank city, as other vehicles are seen entering.

Even after the IDF’s initial announcement that its forces were beginning to withdraw, military operations appeared to continue late Tuesday, when the IDF claimed that an armed terror cell had been attacked by IDF aircraft at a cemetery on the outskirts of the city of Jenin.

The operation was carried out because the gunmen “posed a threat to security forces leaving the Jenin camp”, the IDF added.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militant group Hamas said one of its fighters rammed and stabbed a car in Tel Aviv on Tuesday in response to Israel’s ongoing operation in Jenin.

According to Israeli authorities, eight people were injured in the attack near a Tel Aviv shopping mall, during which the attacker got out of the wrecked vehicle and continued to stab civilians.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk has called for an end to “killings, maimings and destruction of property”.

“The recent operation in the occupied West Bank and the car bombing in Tel Aviv ominously underscore an all-too-familiar pattern of events: this violence only breeds more violence,” the statement said.

“The scale of the ongoing operation by the Israeli security forces in Jenin, including the use of repeated airstrikes, coupled with the destruction of property, raises a number of serious questions regarding international norms and standards relating to human rights, including the protection and respect of the right to life,” he added.

Türk said that “some of the methods and weapons used during IDF operations in the Jenin refugee camp and its surroundings are more generally associated with the conduct of hostilities in an armed conflict, rather than the application of the law”.

He called on Israeli forces to “respect international human rights standards”, which “do not change just because the objective of the operation is declared ‘anti-terrorist'”.

increase in casualties

A police spokesperson described the car crashing into Pinchas Rosen Street in north Tel Aviv as a “terrorist attack”, telling CNN the driver was shot by an armed civilian.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack, saying “anyone who thinks such an attack will deter us from continuing our fight against terrorism is wrong. They just don’t know the spirit of the State of Israel. , our government, our citizens and our soldiers”.

In Jenin, a total of 117 people were injured in the refugee camp due to the ongoing IDF operation, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported on Tuesday. Among these injuries, there are 12 declared serious and 33 moderate. The IDF acknowledged that among the wounded were civilians.

Thousands of people are still outside their homes, having been evacuated overnight to avoid danger. Damage in the camp is extensive, with some roads destroyed by Israeli bulldozers disarming IEDs, as well as extensive damage to homes and cars as a result of the fighting.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, deputy prime minister of the Palestinian self-government, called on the United States to help defuse the situation on Tuesday, in an interview with CNN’s Eleni Giokos.

“The Americans must intervene because Israel must be stopped by the Americans, immediately. Otherwise, the situation is very risky, very dangerous for them and for us,” in an interview with CNN anchor Eleni Giokos on Tuesday.

Rudeineh said the “Israeli army was attacking Palestinian citizens” and added, “What happened yesterday was completely dangerous.”

— CNN’s Sarah Dean contributed to this report.