Israeli forces withdrew from the West Bank city Friday, leaving behind demolished infrastructure and dozens dead.
Israeli forces withdrew from the West Bank city Friday, leaving behind demolished infrastructure and dozens dead.
Israeli occupation forces withdrew from the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, including the Jenin refugee camp, early on Friday, after a 10-day military operation that resulted in the killing of dozens of Palestinians in Jenin and left significant destruction to the city and camp’s streets and infrastructure.
The invasion on Jenin was part of ‘Operation Summer Camps’, a multi-pronged operation that targeted a number of cities and refugee camps in the northern West Bank, including Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 39 Palestinians have been killed in the operation, 21 of whom were killed in Jenin alone.
During this operation, which was described as the largest since ‘Operation Defensive Shield’, which decimated the Jenin camp in 2002, Israeli forces also carried out drone strikes targeting resistance fighters in several of Jenin’s neighboring towns and villages. Additionally, they conducted multiple raids on homes they claimed were harboring wanted individuals.
As soon as the Israeli occupation army withdrew from Jenin city and the camp, displaced residents returned to their homes, which they had left either because they were forced to evacuate by the Israeli army or they fled due to the heavy gunfire and massive explosions near their houses.
As displaced families returned to their homes, so did hundreds of volunteers from nearby villages and towns to help clear the devastation caused by military bulldozers, which had destroyed vital infrastructure, commercial shops, and many homes.Displaced Waving White Flags
While we were reporting from in front of the Jenin Governmental Hospital, which remained besieged throughout the days of the military operation, a family caught my attention as they were leaving the camp with their hands raised; among them was a woman who was carrying a white flag.
“I carried the white flag so we could get our young men out. The Israeli soldiers show no mercy to anyone. We just want to get our sons out. We are not afraid for ourselves, but for them. We left amidst the destruction and gunfire,” she told Mondoweiss.
Another displaced woman told us, “At first, our neighborhood was safe, but in the morning on the fourth day, they bombed an area in the neighborhood. The Israeli army wanted to enter the area, and the drones were shelling. Every moment the situation became more dangerous and intense. We were worried about the elderly and the children, so we decided to leave.”
Um Weam Hariri, an elderly displaced woman we met on the fifth day of the military operation, told us that the Israeli soldiers forced her to evacuate her home, blowing up the doors while she, her children, and grandchildren were inside. She told Mondoweiss that for five days, the family did not have access to food or water as they were trapped inside their home.
“The thirst and hunger have been killing us after these five days. We didn’t even have a drop of water to drink, and my husband, who had a stroke, had his urine bag beside him. When they blew up the house, his hand was injured, and despite that, they detained him along with the young men,” Hariri said.
