AJ Staff
Al-Jazeera / September 3, 2024
Jenin is once again the target of a major Israeli assault, leaving a trail of death and destruction.
The Israeli military is now carrying out its seventh day of massive raids across the occupied West Bank, including in Jenin, a city that houses nearly 50,000 people.
The largest Israeli assault on the occupied territories since the second Intifada in the early 2000s has left several dozen Palestinians killed, at a time when Israel is also engaged in a devastating war on Gaza.
Palestinians in the occupied territory are now struggling to secure basic necessities, including food and water, in the wake of the widespread destruction by Israeli forces in Jenin.
Let’s take a look at each of the seven days of incursions:
August 28
Israel launched the largest raids in the occupied West Bank in more than two decades, targeting Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas in particular, killing at least 10 people.
The assaults, which began in the early hours of Wednesday, involved hundreds of ground soldiers advancing in bulldozers and armoured vehicles, supported by fighter jets and drones that dropped bombs.
August 29
Access to hospitals was blocked with dirt barriers by heavily armed Israeli forces, with other medical facilities surrounded by troops.
The confirmed death toll rose to at least 18, with eight Palestinians killed in the Jenin governorate. Dozens more were wounded across the three major areas that came under attack.
The Israeli military called in reinforcements, and Palestinian sources reported that at least 25 people were detained in the occupied areas in the preceding 24 hours.
August 30
The Israeli military withdrew from Tulkarem and Tubas after leaving a trail of destruction, but stepped up attacks on Jenin, with the death toll climbing to 21.
At least three people were killed early on Friday after Israeli forces attacked a car in the village of Zababdeh, south of Jenin.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the occupied areas reported that the bodies of the three were taken away by Israeli forces. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that Israeli forces obstructed ambulances from reaching the scene of the attack.
August 31
Israeli forces blew up homes in the Jenin refugee camps’ Al-Jabriyat neighbourhood, with paramedics struggling to contact and reach casualties after telecommunications were blocked.
Reporting from Jenin on Saturday, Al-Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said, “Jenin is a ghost town. All of the shops are closed. Nobody is leaving their homes.”
Israel’s army on Saturday announced the first death of a soldier in clashes with Palestinian fighters since the start of the raids.
September 1
Israeli forces continued to forcibly evacuate Palestinian families from their homes, including those living in the Abdullah Azzam neighbourhood in the Jenin camp. Families from the neighbourhoods of Al-Damj, Al-Suha, and Al-Faluja were also forcibly displaced, according to the WAFA news agency.
The agency reported that in the camp’s main square, Israeli forces detained residents and interrogated them in the field amid extensive raids, searches, and detentions.
The municipality in Jenin provided a clearer picture of the large-scale destruction left by Israeli forces, which had killed at least 24 Palestinians at that point and displaced thousands.
According to the municipality, the Israeli army:
- Bulldozed nearly 70 percent of the city’s streets.
- Destroyed 20km (12.4 miles) of its water and sewage networks.
- Left 80 percent of the Jenin refugee camp without water access.
September 2
A Palestinian teenager was killed by live Israeli fire in the town of Kafr Dan west of Jenin, according to the PRCS, which said emergency responders were denied access to the 16-year-old girl for over half an hour as she bled to death. Another young Palestinian was also wounded in the thigh by the Israeli forces’ live fire.
Israeli troops handed the body of a Palestinian man who was arrested about an hour earlier in Kafr Dan to Palestinian health authorities. The 58-year-old Ayman Rajeh Abed was arrested at dawn, and his body came in handcuffed and bearing signs of torture, according to Wissam Bakr, the director of Jenin Governmental Hospital.
Israeli forces and bulldozers attacked a group of journalists while they were covering the destruction of a roundabout and surrounding shops, and opened fire directly on them, which resulted in multiple injuries.
Last night, Israeli soldiers also detained an ambulance crew while transporting an emergency medical case to Jenin Governmental Hospital and assaulted a number of them.
September 3
Occupation forces have continued to destroy the centre of Jenin city, with bulldozers razing Cinema Street and large parts of Hospitals Street to the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital.
They have also destroyed shops and roads in the Cinema Roundabout area and Post Street, which had also been heavily targeted earlier in the raid.
WAFA said two of its photojournalists were shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers in Kafr Dan.
At dawn on Tuesday, Israeli forces stormed the village of Muthalath al-Shuhada, south of Jenin. They reportedly deployed snipers on the roofs of several houses, raided six homes, and detained a number of citizens before withdrawing from the town.
At least another 22 Palestinians were detained in the 24 hours leading up to 12pm (09:00 GMT) on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.:31
Source: Al-Jazeera
