PALESTINIAN President Mahmoud Abbas visited the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp today in the wake of a deadly Israeli attack last week.

The visit, his first to the camp since 2005, came a week after the largest Israeli attack in the West Bank in nearly two decades that killed at least 12 Palestinians, forced thousands to flee their homes and left swathes of the camp in ruins. 

An Israeli soldier was also killed in the operation, which the Israeli army said was necessary to crack down on Palestinian resistance groups.

President Abbas arrived in Jenin aboard a Jordanian helicopter this afternoon.

Thousands clustered around his heavy security detail, and children chased his motorcade as it moved along the streets.

He visited a freshly dug cemetery, where he laid a wreath at the graves of those killed in last week’s operation, before speaking to a packed crowd.

Mr Abbas said: “Jenin camp is the icon of struggle, steadfastness and challenge.”

The president pledged the reconstruction of the camp would begin immediately. 

He said: “I say to everyone near and far, this country is safe and its authority will remain one. 

“We must get rid of the occupation and we say to them: leave us, we are here to stay.”

Mr Abbas's leadership has come under some criticism from some Palestinian factions over the lack of any progress toward independence. 

President Abbas’s visit came after a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office that his government would take steps to strengthen the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, but gave no specifics about what steps it would take.

Since taking office in December, several ultranationalist ministers in Mr Netanyahu’s government have called for the Palestinian Authority to be disbanded.

Mr Netanyahu heads one of the most hard-line governments in Israel’s history, made up of ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox factions along with his ruling Likud party.

Over the last year, Israeli forces have launched almost daily attacks into the occupied territory which have sparked retaliation from Palestinian resistance fighters. 

More than 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of the year, while at least 26 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.

This year looks set to surpass the 231 killings of Palestinians by Israeli occupation forces in 2022, the deadliest year on record.