The IDF launched an operation against the Jenin refugee camp overnight starting at about 1 a.m. local time, an operation which, as this is being written, appears to still be ongoing. The IDF says at least 1,000 troops are involved, making it the largest operation in the West Bank in years, and has involved at least ten drone strikes. Palestinian health authorities have reported 8 Palestinians killed and at least 50 others wounded, as of nightfall. So far, only one IDF soldier has been reported wounded, although Palestinian resistance groups are claiming on Telegram to have seen many Israel helicopters taking off loaded with wounded soldiers.
“In the past few hours, we dealt a heavy blow to the terror organizations in Jenin and managed to record impressive operational achievements,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed in a statement issued following an assessment he held with military chief Lt. Gen Herzi Halevi and other senior officers, reported the Times of Israel. “The city of Jenin, and in particular the refugee camp, is a stronghold of terror that exports terrorism to the entire [West Bank] and the home front,” said Brig. Gen. Avi Blot. “In the eyes of the enemy, the refugee camp has become a ‘refuge city’ and the IDF’s freedom of action in the area is challenged,” he said.
The Israelis use the word “terrorism” to cover over the fact that it’s the occupation itself that’s the problem, which is a function of an ideology which sees the West Bank as territory that must be populated only by Jews and rejects the national aspirations of the Palestinians. Jenin has long been a center of resistance to that occupation.
As was the case with the IDF operation in Jenin in 2002 during the Second Intifada, there are implications of Israeli war crimes against civilians. Lynn Hastings, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Palestine, said she was “alarmed by the scale of Israeli forces operation” used in Jenin. “Air strikes were used in the densely populated refugee camp. Several dead and critically wounded. Access to all injured must be ensured,” she said on Twitter. A local resident told Middle East Eye that the buildings shelled belonged to civilians, and included the Freedom Theatre, a popular cultural center in the city.
Hafeth Abu Sabra, an eyewitness from Jenin refugee camp, described scenes of horror in the city’s streets. He said Israeli forces were destroying infrastructure and public property as snipers were stationed inside armored vehicles and on rooftops, firing live rounds at unarmed Palestinians standing near the camp’s entrance. “Two civilians were directly hit in front me,” Abu Sabra told MEE as the sound of sniper gunshots were heard in the background during the interview. Paramedics trying to reach some neighborhoods were targeted with Israeli fire, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.
Jenin’s Deputy Governor, Kamal Abu El-Rub, said Palestinians are the rightful owners of the land and therefore have the right to defend themselves against Israeli aggression. “The will of the Palestinian people will always be bigger than the crimes of the Israeli occupation,” Abu El-Rub told MEE.
