fetal- Despite all the news that came out of the eastern neighborhood of the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank during the past six days of its siege, what was revealed by the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces – yesterday, Monday – of the massive destruction caused a great shock to its residents and the people of the city in general.
Difficult testimonies were given by the residents of the neighborhood who have been threatened for 6 days by the occupation bulldozers and a large number of foot soldiers who have turned the houses into military points and settled in them.
Immediately after the announcement of the withdrawal of the occupation forces from the neighborhood, those who remained in their homes left to inspect the destruction and devastation, while residents of other neighborhoods in Jenin flocked to check on their relatives and find out what had happened in the past few days.
Massive destruction
With great effort, the residents walk on foot through what used to be the neighborhood streets, which Israeli bulldozers have turned into a huge area of destruction.
“I stand in the middle of my house, as if I am in the street,” said Rushdi Hathnawi (70 years old), whose house was destroyed by the occupation and its walls demolished. He added, “They did not leave a stone on a stone, as if they have a vendetta against the streets of the neighborhood, its houses, and everything in it.”
While he looked shocked and exhausted, Hathnawi – who has lived most of his life in the neighborhood – continued, “They destroyed the house and the neighbors’ houses. What is happening today is shocking and painful, but I am thinking of the people of the camp, because the destruction there is greater, and the situation of its residents is more difficult.”
The occupation had killed an elderly Palestinian man in front of the Khalid bin al-Walid Mosque in the same eastern neighborhood, and left his body on the ground for hours, preventing people from approaching him to try to move him, then a military vehicle drove over him, trampling on his feet, and continued to bulldoze the street.
According to one of the young men, who preferred to remain anonymous, the occupation forces fired a large number of bullets at the elderly man, then left him lying on the ground, and prevented them from providing him with first aid. When they were sure that he was dead, the young man added, the occupation forces forced them to leave their home and pass by his body, and did not allow them to move him. They were shouting at them while holding weapons, and then the young man saw the vehicle run over the martyr’s feet and go on its way.
Unprecedented brutality
On Monday, neighborhood resident Mohammed Abu Ghali returned to check on his home after being displaced on the first day of the Israeli military campaign in Jenin. He told Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “There is not a house that has not been damaged. The entrance to my house has become mingled with the entrance to the neighbors’ house. They demolished the wall and the courtyard of the house. In this state, we cannot return to it. Everything is destroyed and unfit for habitation, not to mention the water cut off.”
Abu Ghali was born in this neighborhood, and explains that he spent 46 years of his life there, and lived through the period of the great invasion of Jenin in 2002, and that it cannot be compared to what happened during these six days. He confirms that “they did not suffer then as they are suffering now, and that the neighborhood was not destroyed as it is today, and they were not deprived of food, electricity, and water as they are today.”
As for Abu Hassan al-Saadi, who witnessed the first intifada in the 1980s and the invasion of Jenin, he believes that “the brutality of the occupation this time exceeds all previous years.”
Al-Saadi described to Tel Aviv Tribune Net how the occupation soldiers detained his family and the family of his neighbors from the first hours of the siege of the neighborhood on the ground floor, and began moving from one floor to another until reaching the third, and destroyed everything they passed, while they detained his two sons after blindfolding them in the kitchen of the house.
During the entire time the soldiers were in the house, they prevented them from moving from the room, detained the children in the kitchen, and then transferred them at night to the upper area of the neighborhood and kept them until two o’clock in the morning, then released them, he added.
He continued, “We spent days without electricity or water. All the food and vegetables in the refrigerators were spoiled. There is water in the street, and until now we are transporting water in gallons from the mosques. The streets of the neighborhood are unwalkable due to the large amount of rubble and the accumulation of sewage.”
Al-Saadi considers all the destruction to be minor compared to the terror of the residents and children from the behavior of the occupation army in the homes it raided during the siege, the sound of gunfire, the screams of the soldiers and their brutality.
Losses in the millions
As the occupation forces withdrew from the neighborhood, an Israeli military force – accompanied by 4 bulldozers – headed to the city center known as “Cinema Roundabout”, where a large-scale destruction operation also began. In less than half an hour, the bulldozers were crushing everything in the area and completely changing the city’s features. This was described as the largest destruction operation to occur since the city was occupied after the 1967 war.
Jenin Municipality estimates the amount of damage to infrastructure and streets during the past week (i.e. since the beginning of the ongoing storming of the city) at approximately 50 million shekels (one dollar = 3.7 shekels), and the numbers are increasing as the duration of the storming increases and the scope of destruction expands. It confirms that damage updates are made every two hours.
In this context, Jenin Mayor Nidal al-Obeidi says, “From October 7, 2023 until the start of the ongoing military operation in Jenin, we have recorded losses estimated at 100 million shekels, and during the past seven days alone, they have reached 50 million shekels.”
Speaking to Tel Aviv Tribune Net, Al-Ubaidi added that the municipality crews have not yet been able to enter the eastern neighborhood and monitor the number of completely destroyed or partially damaged homes, due to the occupation army’s deployment in all areas of the city, preventing them from working on the ground.
But calls from the neighborhood reveal that most of the houses were destroyed, in addition to the sewage network and the main lines supplying water and electricity. “In short, I describe what happened in Jenin as an earthquake,” Al-Abidi concludes.