Embryo – Ahmed Abu Al-Ezz is working hard to remove large pieces of broken and old furniture, which he spent years of his life collecting, out of his house in the Jourat Al-Dhahab neighborhood in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank after they were severely damaged, following the Israeli occupation forces storming his house on Thursday night.
The occupation forces stormed Abu Al-Ezz’s house, detained him and his family of 12 members, destroyed all of the house’s belongings, and moved through its three floors, arriving at his son’s apartment on the top floor.
“They put me and my children in the corner of the house near the entrance, handcuffed, and they entered in large numbers, searched all the rooms, and destroyed everything their hands touched. I collect antiquities, this has been my hobby for a long time. I created a special room for it, and arranged it in a different way, and it became like a museum until School students used to come here on educational visits to learn about it. They destroyed it all. It is no longer suitable for display or even decoration.”
Vandalism and destruction
In the upper apartment of his house, where his son lives, who has been married for less than one year, traces of devastation are clearly visible in all corners of the house, but the most prominent thing in everything that happened with the Abu Al-Ezz family was the entry of soldiers into the women of the house carrying a sharp knife.
Abu Al-Ezz says, “They entered my wife and daughters with a knife, threatening them with it, and when my little child saw them, he fainted out of fear. This is my son’s house, and he was not happy about it. It was supposed to be his marital nest. It turned into a pile of rubble. They even broke the kitchen and smashed its cupboards. They broke the entire TV screen, even the curtains they cut with a knife.”
In Al-Damj neighborhood, one of the neighborhoods most confronted by the Israeli occupation forces in their repeated incursions into the Jenin camp, Israeli reconnaissance planes bombed the Al-Sabbagh family’s three-storey house, burning it completely. In the middle of the burning house stood Samah Al-Sabbagh, pointing to the missing features of the house, and explaining what was in it. Every corner of it.
Al-Sabagh says, “My sister lived here with her children, and my little brother was in this corner. It was his bedroom and his closet, here was the guest room, and there was the kitchen. Now there is only this black square.”
She added, “They completely melted the house, even the walls and floor. The house is now uninhabitable and cannot be repaired. This house has 15 people living in it. Now we do not know where we will go. My elderly mother has been left without shelter after this age, and my brother’s family is on the floor.” Bottom too.”
A scene reminiscent of Gaza
In a scene reminiscent of the bombing of residential homes in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation bombed the home of the Mar’i family, completely demolishing it, and part of it caught fire.
The house belongs to the prisoner Tamer Marei, who was arrested during the Israeli occupation’s storming of Jenin camp on the third of last July.
His wife, Alaa, says that she was in her aunt’s house at the moment of the raid, and that she received news from the neighborhood’s residents that the soldiers entered the house and began to vandalize it, but she did not expect it to be in the state she saw it in when she arrived. “Even when the neighbors told me that the house had been bombed, I did not expect that “It would have been razed to the ground in this way.”
Until their withdrawal on Thursday evening from Jenin camp, the Israeli occupation forces had completely destroyed approximately 7 homes, and a number of other homes partially. Until now, no official body has been able to estimate the damage to homes and residents’ property.
Thefts and looting
The Israeli occupation soldiers did not content themselves with demolishing and burning homes, but the camp residents spoke of thefts that took place in a number of homes that the occupation stormed, and others in commercial stores.
Kifah Abu Al-Surour, who lives in the Eastern Neighborhood, said, “The occupation soldiers surrounded me and my family in the house after bombing it with Energa shells.” He was forced to gather his family in the basement, and after the house continued to be hit by shells, he tried to call the Civil Defense and the ambulance to help him and his family and evacuate the house.
“I called the Civil Defense, and told them that the house was being exposed to fire and energy and that parts of it were starting to burn, but they did not allow any ambulance or the Civil Defense crews to reach us. Then I contacted the Palestinian Civil Liaison, which in turn contacted the Israeli Liaison, and coordinated a time for our exit with them,” he says. Abu Al-Surour.
He added, “An officer from the Israeli army called me and told me that you will leave one by one with your hands raised, and you must all leave the house. Then I will enter the house, and if I find anyone in it, I will kill him and then I will return to killing you all here. We left as he told us, then they entered and searched.” The house was broken.”
After Abu Al-Surour left, the occupation soldiers unleashed their police dog on him, and it bit him in the foot and arm. The family stayed outside their house all night until they were allowed to return at dawn on Thursday. After inspecting the house, they found that the soldiers had stolen a sum of money estimated at 8,000 shekels (one dollar equals 3.5 shekels). In addition to the golden jewelry of his brother’s wife.
Izz al-Din Abu Sariya said, “The occupation forces stole a laptop computer from his house in addition to an iPad,” while Muhammad Talib, a store owner, said, “The occupation soldiers broke the lock of his store, entered it, and stole all the cartons of cigarettes from the store, in addition to cartons of Perfumes.
Eyewitnesses from the camp said that “the occupation soldiers were entering the closed shops and grocery stores, and leaving them carrying bags and cartons filled with mortar (foodstuffs) from these stores.”