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The National
30-04-2025
- Politics
- The National
Unprecedented Israeli military operation in Jenin enters 100th day
Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza The occupied West Bank on Wednesday marked 100 days since Israel launched an unprecedented invasion of Jenin's refugee camp in an ongoing military operation that has raised fears the territory faces the same horrors endured by Gaza since October 7, 2023. The 'Iron Wall' raid, which has been extended from Jenin to other West Bank cities in the north, has led to tens of thousands of people being displaced, adding further strain on local authorities and NGOs trying to meet the needs of those fleeing. The refugee camps under siege were already struggling with difficult living conditions and high unemployment rates, and have long produced Palestinian militants. "Jenin camp is completely uninhabitable due to the demolition of more than 600 houses," said Basheer Matahen, spokesman for Jenin municipality, said ahead of the 100-day mark. Israeli forces are also operating in the eastern area of Jenin, he added, and there were "displacement operations in the Zahra district". "The number of displaced people is 22,000," he said. Between January 1, just before Iron Wall began, and April 24, more than 90 per cent of 116 Palestinians killed were in the north of the region, according to the UN. Seven Israelis, five of them security personnel, have been killed in the same period. The Palestinian Authority, which is supposed to govern Jenin although it has lost almost all power there in recent years, launched its own operation in the camp at the end of last year. Jenin's mayor Mohammed Jarrar told The National that since 2021, the area has seen more than 104 major raids, which he defined as lasting for longer than two days. While the whole of the West Bank has seen increased military operations in recent years, the latest round is unprecedented in its duration and goals. Israeli forces have engaged in widespread destruction in an apparent bid to prevent people from returning, installed metal barriers to control access and widened the often narrow alleys of the camps to make future incursions easier for heavy vehicles. As the operation expanded to other camps in March, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said: "We are crushing the terrorist infrastructure in the refugee camps and preventing their return." Members of Israel's far-right coalition – many of whom live in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank – consistently call for heavy military action throughout Palestinian territories and for their country to annex the entire region. The UN says it is difficult to find an exact number of how many Palestinians have been displaced, 'partly due to continuous attempts by families to return to their homes, with many displaced multiple times'. But estimates have put the number in the tens of thousands. Palestinian Authority figures specified 46,000 on Monday. Israel has also cracked down on civil liberties in the region, including restricting the work of journalists. The UN reported last week that Israeli forces fired tear gas at reporters and confiscated their equipment. Fears are also growing for the well-being of veteran Jenin-based Palestinian journalist Ali Samoudi, who was detained by Israel in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Israel's military accused him of being a 'terrorist … who was identified with Islamic Jihad' and of transferring funds to the group, but Israel has provided no evidence. Mr Samoudi has worked for international outlets such as CNN and Reuters. At a memorial event for fallen Israeli soldiers on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Thanks to the heroism of our fighters, we broke the stranglehold of our enemies: we did so in the south, in the north, in [the occupied West Bank] and on other fronts as well."
Al Jazeera
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Israeli army's Jenin raid enters 2nd month; mass displacement in West Bank
The Israeli army has continued with its large-scale military raid in the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp, forcing thousands to flee their homes. Wednesday marks 30 days since Israeli forces began their assault on Jenin which then spread to other parts of the northern West Bank, including Tulkarem and its Nur Shams refugee camp. At least 26 Palestinians have been killed in Jenin since January 21. The army has also deployed hundreds of soldiers and bulldozers that demolished houses and tore up vital infrastructure in the overcrowded camp, forcing almost all of its residents out. 'We don't know what's going on in the camp but there is continuous demolition and roads being dug up,' said Mohammed al-Sabbagh, head of the Jenin camp services committee. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Jenin Mayor Mohammed Jarrar said the Israeli army 'adopted a pattern of random destruction' in the camp and its surroundings in order to make the camp 'uninhabitable'. The mass displacement of Palestinians from various parts of the West Bank in recent weeks marks the largest displacement operation in decades. The camps, built for descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 Nakba around the creation of Israel, have long been major centres for resistance groups fighting Israeli occupation. They have been raided repeatedly by the Israeli military but the current operation, which began as the ceasefire was agreed in the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip, has been on an unusually large scale. According to figures from the Palestinian Authority, about 17,000 people have now been forced out of Jenin refugee camp, leaving it almost deserted. In Nur Shams, 6,000 people, or about two-thirds of its population, have been forced out, with another 10,000 leaving from Tulkarem camp. 'The ones who are left are trapped,' said Nihad al-Shawish, head of the Nur Shams camp services committee. 'The Civil Defence, the Red Crescent and the Palestinian security forces brought them some food yesterday but the army is still bulldozing and destroying the camp.' Israeli raids have demolished dozens of houses and torn up large stretches of roadway as well as cutting off water and power. Humanitarian officials say they have not seen such displacement in the West Bank since the 1967 Middle East war, when Israel captured the territory west of the Jordan River, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. 'This is unprecedented. When you add to this the destruction of infrastructure, we're reaching a point where the camps are becoming uninhabitable,' said Roland Friedrich, director of West Bank affairs for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Israeli forces have also continued to carry out arrests of Palestinians across the West Bank. On Wednesday, four people, including two children, were detained from Jenin. Also on Wednesday, an elderly woman was shot in the chest near the entrance to the Jenin refugee camp. The Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli forces have sealed the entrances of the camp and that soldiers stationed at the main entrance have been shooting at people who try coming near it. Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli forces raided and demolished a home in Hebron, while military bulldozers razed agricultural land.
