The Israeli siege of the West Bank city of Jenin has left Palestinians without food, water or electricity. The medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, accuses Israeli forces of obstructing access to health facilities and targeting ambulances.
“All basic needs,” including bread, inside the refugee camp “no longer exist,” Taher al-Saadi, a Jenin resident who managed to escape, told Tel Aviv Tribune.
Fayza Abu Jaafar, another resident who fled Jenin, said the situation is “very difficult” for children still stuck in the area, as they are “terrified” by the destruction carried out by Israeli forces.
The Israeli military deployed reinforcements on Sunday after demolishing shops and razing streets while preventing tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians from accessing humanitarian aid, a move it called a “war crime.” Israel has also been accused of war crimes during its ongoing military offensive in Gaza.
According to the Jenin municipality, the Israeli army has razed nearly 70 percent of the city’s streets and 20 kilometers of its water and sewage networks since its raids began on Wednesday, August 28. As a result, 80 percent of the Jenin refugee camp, which is home to 20,000 people, is left without access to water, the Jenin municipality said.
At least 24 Palestinians have been killed in a five-day Israeli attack that Tel Aviv Tribune correspondent Nida Ibrahim said was “the most destructive raid we have seen” in decades.
“We hear gunfire and loud explosions,” Ibrahim reported. “The main streets of Jenin have also been destroyed and bulldozers are digging up the area.”
“It reminds us of what it means to be a Palestinian under military occupation. You have no control over your city, no control over your streets. You don’t know if you’re going to return home safely, or even if your house will be spared,” Ibrahim said, reporting from the outskirts of Jenin.
Kamal Abu al-Rub, the governor of Jenin, described the situation so far as similar to the Israeli destruction of 2002 in which the camp was “razed” and dozens were killed.
“A clear war crime”
In addition to causing extensive damage to public services and infrastructure, Israeli troops also raided many homes and damaged and “looted” private property, while subjecting residents to interrogation and “harsh treatment,” the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Among those interrogated and beaten was a trained volunteer from Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the group said in a statement, adding that Israeli forces surrounded Khalil Suleiman Hospital, forcing his team to suspend dialysis care to patients in Jenin.
“Israel must respect its obligations as an occupying power in the occupied West Bank,” MSF said.
Since October 7, Israel has killed at least 675 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. During the same period, more than 10,300 Palestinians have been arrested and detained by Israeli forces.
The escalation of Israel’s campaign in the occupied West Bank comes as its bombardments of Gaza have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and destroyed large parts of the besieged enclave.
In an interview with Tel Aviv Tribune on Sunday, Kenneth Roth, former director of Human Rights Watch, said that what Israel did in Gaza over the past 11 months is now being done in the occupied West Bank.
“It’s become a real war,” said Roth, who is now a visiting scholar at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
“One of the fundamental rules is that Israel must allow access to humanitarian aid. It cannot just cut off food, water, electricity and medical care, as we have heard. It has a duty to allow access to these resources to the civilian population,” Roth added.
He said Israel cannot use the presence of fighters in the occupied West Bank as an excuse “to starve civilians.”
“Instead of fighting the militants, as Israel has the right to do, it is fighting the entire population. And this is a clear war crime.”