Israel continues assault on West Bank’s Jenin as destruction campaign rages on

The Israeli military presses ahead with its attacks on the West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp, as it continues to bulldoze and burn Palestinian homes and turn other civilian structures into military barracks.

Over the past 77 days, Israeli forces have continued their aggression on Jenin and its refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, intensifying their presence with home demolitions, detentions, and the conversion of civilian buildings into military outposts, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said on Monday. 

According to the report, Israeli forces detained a nursing student in front of the Jenin Governmental Hospital, along with a young man and his mother near the camp earlier in the day, as access to areas surrounding the camp, particularly al-Zahraa neighborhood and Jenin Hospital, adjacent to Jenin camp, has been restricted, with a number of Palestinians detained for attempting to enter.

In response to the escalations and in solidarity with Palestinians in the war-torn Gaza Strip, Jenin witnessed a widespread strike, which shut down schools, businesses, and institutions, it added.

This is while the Tel Aviv regime kept boosting its presence in Jenin with continuous reinforcements arriving, including armored vehicles and bulldozers, the report further said.

It added that infantry units were also deployed to various strategic areas, as significant changes are being made to the camp’s infrastructure, such as road widening and landmark alterations.

Furthermore, the Israeli military has also been conducting live-fire military drills near the Jalameh checkpoint, adjacent to the uninhabited sections of the refugee camp, further deepening the disruption of daily life and causing irreversible damage to the physical and social fabric of the community, Wafa also stressed.

The humanitarian crisis is exacerbating, with approximately 21,000 people forcibly displaced from Jenin camp. Many of these Palestinians have lost homes, jobs, and sources of income, and are unable to return to their homes.

'Kill zone': Report says Israel systematically destroyed homes on Gaza boundary

A recent report has revealed that Israeli military forces systematically destroyed homes and fields during the Gaza war in their mission to expand the so-called buffer zone between the coastal sliver and occupied territories.

Some 600 homes have been completely razed, and around 3,000 more are uninhabitable, the report added, warning that poverty is rising sharply in the region as displaced residents face unemployment and economic instability.

The death toll in Jenin has reached 36 amid ongoing daily raids and detentions across surrounding villages and towns, while hundreds more have been detained since the military offensive began in January.

The situation is not much different in other camps. Many homes were demolished to open up and widen roads to allow easier access for Israeli military vehicles.

The Israeli military in recent months has desperately struggled to maintain control over the camps, which it described as “strategically vital” areas for resistance activity.

The UN has warned that the forced displacement of Palestinian communities in the northern part of the West Bank is escalating at an alarming pace.  

Since October 2023, some 940 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 injured in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

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