Israeli Military Demolishes Dozens of Buildings in Jenin Refugee Camp
Escalation in the West Bank as International Community Raises Concerns.
Watan-The Israeli occupation army carried out a demolition operation on dozens of residential buildings in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank yesterday, Sunday, along a path extending from one edge of the camp to its center from the eastern side. The scenes coming from the camp are reminiscent of the practices of the occupation army in Gaza and southern Lebanon.
This escalation coincided with an operation launched by Israeli forces in Tubas, northeast of the West Bank, while extremist settlers continued their violations against Palestinians, their agricultural lands, properties, and places of worship through attacks that included the destruction of a mosque in Jericho. It also coincided with renewed calls by officials in the Israeli ruling coalition, led by the extremist settler minister Bezalel Smotrich, to annex the West Bank.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas quickly called for an urgent emergency session of the United Nations Security Council. According to the Palestinian news agency “Wafa,” this was aimed at “stopping the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and the destruction of entire residential blocks in the Jenin and Tulkarm camps.”
The Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas” said in a statement that what happened comes “amid continued international silence and the absence of accountability for the Zionist war criminals.”
UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese described Israeli practices in the West Bank as “criminal,” warning that “the intent of genocide is evident in the way Israel targets Palestinians.”
The occupation forces simultaneously detonated more than 20 buildings in the eastern part of the camp after rigging them with explosives. The explosions were heard throughout the city of Jenin and parts of the governorate. The occupation rigged the Damaj neighborhood block and evacuated several adjacent buildings.
The Damaj neighborhood, located in an elevated area in the center of the camp, is a very crowded place where Palestinian resistance fighters were fortified during the occupation forces’ incursion into the area.
Jenin Mayor Mohammed Jarar said that approximately 15,000 people were displaced from the Jenin camp and the Al-Hadaf neighborhood, dispersing into several villages and towns in the governorate.
He added that the city’s hospitals are suffering from a severe shortage of water after the occupation targeted and destroyed water lines. He confirmed that about 100 homes were completely demolished in the camp.
The elderly man, Walid Al-Lahloh (73 years old), was martyred by an occupation sniper’s bullet at the entrance of the camp. A citizen was also injured in the thigh by gunfire in the Al-Jabriyat neighborhood of the city. Occupation aircraft carried out two bombing operations on Saturday evening in the eastern neighborhood of the city and the town of Qabatiya south of the city, resulting in five martyrs.
The occupation army expanded its military operation, “Iron Wall,” in the northern West Bank, adding the governorate of Tubas and the Al-Far’a camp south of the city to the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm and their camps.
The town of Tammun south of Tubas and the Al-Far’a camp were the scene of the ongoing Israeli operation.
Occupation forces stormed the town of Tammun, and local sources reported the deployment of infantry forces, in addition to raiding citizens’ homes.
A statement from the occupation army said that the combat battalion of the “Bislaḥ” brigade began its operations in Tammun in Tubas, following up on the Israeli raid carried out last week, which resulted in the martyrdom of 10 Palestinian youths.
In the neighboring city of Jericho, settlers burned a mosque in the Arab al-Mleihat community northwest of Jericho, east of the West Bank.
Settlers also carried out land leveling and excavation work in the “Masafer Yatta” area south of Hebron city.
In Israel, Smotrich called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to work during his visit to Washington to push for imposing sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.
He said in a post on his account on the “X” platform: “We must strengthen our grip and sovereignty over parts of the homeland in Judea and Samaria (the biblical name for the West Bank).”
