Shatha Hanaysha
Mondoweiss / August 28, 2024
The Israeli army claims that its operation in the northern West Bank cities of Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas is the largest since Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.
The Israeli army announced on Wednesday at dawn that it was launching “Operation Summer Camps,” a large-scale military operation in the cities and refugee camps of the northern West Bank, including Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas. The operation is targeting Palestinian armed resistance groups that have spread throughout the northern West Bank over the past three years. The Jenin Brigade, the Tulkarem Brigade, and the Tubas Brigade have come under an intensified Israeli counterinsurgency campaign since the summer of 2023, which has only intensified since October 7.
As of the time of writing, the operation has involved the use of reconnaissance planes and helicopters, the entry of armored vehicles and D9 bulldozers into neighborhoods (causing widespread destruction to civilian infrastructure), the killing of 10 people (mostly through drone strikes), and the injury of dozens of people from gunfire.
Israeli forces have imposed a blockade on the cities of Jenin, Tubas, and Tulkarem, closing streets and roads leading in and out of the cities, while hundreds of troops have been mobilized to invade the three refugee camps where resistance fighters are stationed. The army has also deliberately obstructed the work of ambulance teams, preventing them from reaching the injured in areas targeted by airstrikes.
The Israeli army radio reported that the operation in the northern West Bank is the largest of its kind since Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, and is expected to last for several days.
The Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Israel Katz, said on X that the operation must deal with the armed groups “just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents,” adding that the Israeli assault is a “war in every sense.”
Jenin under siege
The invasion of Jenin and Jenin refugee camp commenced in the predawn hours on Wednesday, beginning with an incursion of Israeli special forces. The discovery of these forces led to armed clashes between the resistance fighters and the occupation forces. During the clashes, Israeli soldiers opened fire on civilians near the Jenin Governmental Hospital, resulting in the killing of two young men and the injury of three others.
Three others were killed near the villages of Sir and Malsiyyeh, south of Jenin, during an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle carrying a group of young men from the Jenin refugee camp.
Analysts speaking to local media sources say the operation is likely intended to lure resistance fighters out of the camp and then target them with airstrikes or carry out arrests.
During the incursion, the Israeli army also imposed a siege on hospitals, blocking access to Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin with dirt barricades and surrounding the Jenin Governmental Hospital. The army also hindered the work of ambulances by stopping and searching them every time they tried to enter or leave any of the city’s hospitals.
According to Israel’s Channel 14, the Israeli army intends to search Palestinian patients entering the besieged hospitals in Tulkarem and Jenin. Mondoweiss reporting on the ground has observed this practice in front of Jenin Governmental Hospital, where the army was sighted searching for patients.
The governor of Jenin, Kamel Abu al-Rub, has stated that the Israeli Civil Administration informed him of the army’s intention of raiding the Jenin Governmental Hospital, not just to close its entrances. The hospital is the only governmental medical facility in the Jenin Governorate.
The Israeli army has denied these claims, asserting there is no intention of raiding hospitals in Tulkarem or Jenin, despite having closed their entrances, and that the hospitals are operating as usual without any damage to their infrastructure. The army also stated that patients and ambulances are allowed to enter the hospitals after undergoing security checks.
The Israeli army has also conducted a widespread arrest campaign in the Jenin governorate, transferring detainees to a center established in the evacuated settlement of “Kedumim and Jenin” The army has set up tents there and is transporting detainees to these facilities for field interrogations.
Widespread destruction in Tulkarem
In Tulkarem, the occupation forces continue their assault on Nur Shams refugee camp, east of the city, notifying residents to evacuate within four hours. The army set up a military checkpoint in Al-Masakh neighborhood to inspect residents before evacuating.
Army bulldozers accompanied dozens of armored vehicles, destroying the main water line supplying the camp and causing extensive destruction to civilian infrastructure, including the camp’s entrances, main streets, and civilian properties along the adjacent Nablus Road.
The army imposed a strict military cordon around the camp and positioned snipers on the rooftops of surrounding buildings.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces also blockaded the al-Isra Specialized Hospital and the Martyr Thabit Thabit Governmental Hospital, preventing people from entering and exiting and obstructing the movement of medical teams while subjecting them to lengthy security checks.
Airstrike in Tubas
In Tubas, two young brothers and two other young men were killed in an airstrike by an Israeli drone on the Al-Fara’a refugee camp, south of Tubas. Israeli forces had raided the camp in the middle of the night with a large number of infantry soldiers, followed by military reinforcements from the direction of the Hamra checkpoint, which were accompanied by a bulldozer. The army deployed snipers inside and around the camp amidst intensive drone surveillance.
Additionally, the forces raided a medical center in the Al-Fara’a camp, detaining staff and assaulting the ambulance center manager, Nidal Awda, while firing shots inside the center.
Shatha Hanaysha is a Palestinian journalist based in Jenin in the occupied West Bank
