Once again, residents of the city and Jenin camp in the northern occupied West Bank began rehabilitating streets and homes destroyed by Israeli vehicles during the 72nd military operation since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7.
This situation is repeated in Jenin at the end of each military operation, as residents go out to check on each other, console the families of the martyrs, mourn their bodies, and join forces to rehabilitate what can be rehabilitated.
At dawn on Thursday, the Israeli army withdrew from the city of Jenin and its camp after a new military operation that lasted about 48 hours.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the toll of the Israeli aggression against the city of Jenin and its camp amounted to 12 martyrs, including 4 children, while 25 were injured with varying injuries.
In a solemn funeral procession in which thousands of Palestinians participated, the city of Jenin and its camp mourned the martyrs of the Israeli aggression.
Fighters from various Palestinian factions participated in the funeral of the bodies, which began in front of Khalil Suleiman Governmental Hospital and roamed several streets, before the bodies were buried in the city’s cemeteries and its camp.
Huge destruction
The head of the Popular Committee in Jenin Camp, Muhammad al-Sabbagh, said that the 72nd military operation since last October 7 left major destruction in infrastructure and homes.
He explained that the army completely destroyed 7 homes, and hundreds partially, and the rehabilitation of the streets began in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Al-Sabbagh stressed that the infrastructure in the camp is dilapidated. Due to the escalation of incursions, accompanied by bulldozing and sabotage.
Since the early morning hours, the camp’s streets seemed active, and dozens of families returned to their homes, after being forced to flee by Israeli forces.
Testimonies of aggression
Palestinian Naseem Aswad (60 years old) narrated scenes of intrusion and intimidation, saying, “The Israeli army blew up the main entrance to the house, and then the interior entrance, and brought in a drone. When it was confirmed that we were civilians and that there were no armed men, it asked us to leave the house.”
He added, “My eldest son, who is 17 years old, was captured, used as a human shield, and forced to enter a number of homes in the camp at gunpoint.”
He stressed that the Israeli army left behind destruction in the camp, and that there is no house that did not suffer its share of destruction, “what is happening is abuse, sabotage and demolition.”
In turn, Muhammad Hujair, the father of the martyr, Osama, said, “My son was killed while he was riding a motorcycle on his way to work.”
Before his son’s funeral, Hujair added, “They killed him without sin and he was not armed. Rather, he was a civilian child who was killed in cold blood.”
He continued, “The army entered the camp with the intention of killing. Everyone who moved in the first moments of the storm was shot. They killed the teacher, the doctor, the child, and the civilian.” He stressed that the occupation army wants to displace the residents and leave the camp.
They are steadfast despite the bullets
On the main street in the middle of the camp, the old Palestinian man, Muhammad Zareen, sits on a chair watching the street rehabilitation work.
Zareen said, “Every time the Israeli army storms the camp, it destroys everything. They want the residents to get tired of this life and living in the camp, but they will not be able to break our steadfastness.”
He added, “My house was raided by the Israeli army, searched, and ID cards were checked.”
He continued, “We lived for two days under bullets and military operations accompanied by destruction, vandalism, arrests, and killing. Every time we lost a group of our young men.”
The city of Jenin is described as being resistant to the occupation, especially its camp, which has become a symbol of steadfastness and is subjected to continuous military operations in an attempt to eliminate resistance there.
There are fighters from the Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and other factions in Jenin, and yesterday, Wednesday, the Israeli occupation army said that it is facing resistance in Jenin similar in strength to that which it faces in the Gaza Strip.
With the martyrdom of 12 Palestinians in the recent storming of Jenin and its camp, the number of martyrs in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, since October 7 last year rose to 517, in addition to about 5,000 being injured and 8,840 arrested, according to official Palestinian data.
The escalation in the West Bank continues in parallel with an Israeli war on Gaza that left more than 115,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.