fetalAfter the Israeli occupation army announced its intention to expand the military operation in Jenin and the camps in the northern West Bank yesterday, Wednesday, in parallel with the storming of the city of Tubas and the Far’a camp, it proceeded to tighten its siege of the city of Jenin and continued its storming of it and its camp for the ninth consecutive day, expanding its operation in its villages.
This morning, Thursday, Israeli occupation aircraft bombed a Palestinian vehicle in Al-Far’a camp, and the bombing resulted in the martyrdom of 5 Palestinians, including Muhammad Zubeidi (21 years old), the son of the prisoner leader Zakaria Zubeidi, and Muhammad Abu Zagha from Jenin.
The Israeli occupation army issued a statement saying that its forces launched an air attack on a Palestinian group that had opened fire on occupation soldiers in the Far’a camp.
Complete siege
Jamal al-Zubaidi, the uncle of the captive leader Zakaria al-Zubaidi, told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that he received the news through a call from a friend who informed him that Muhammad was in the car with a group of young men who were targeted, and that his sister also learned of the news through a phone call from her friend.
He added that it is not possible to know whether the news reached Zakaria, as he is being held in isolation in Ramon Prison, and there have been no contacts or visits with the prisoners since October 7.
Al-Zubaidi’s family was unable to attend his funeral because it was impossible for his body to reach the city of Jenin, due to the ongoing siege on all entrances to the city, while the bodies of the two martyrs Al-Zubaidi and Abu Zagha were transferred to the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin, where the bodies will be preserved in the health center’s refrigerators.
On the ground, signs of military expansion began to appear in the city of Jenin and its camp, in addition to some of the western villages of the city. In the morning hours, military reinforcements continued to be pushed to the vicinity of Jenin Governmental Hospital. For the first time since the start of the military operation in Jenin, an Israeli bulldozer reached the gate of Khalil Suleiman Governmental Hospital, while a military jeep attempted to enter the hospital yard.
Director of Jenin Governmental Hospital, Dr. Wissam Bakr, said that the continued sending of reinforcements to the hospital and its siege increases the suffering of patients in the city. It is also very difficult for the injured to reach the hospital, because the occupation soldiers search the ambulances and arrest any injured person who reaches it, and “this forces us to transfer the injured to other hospitals in the city.”
Speaking to Tel Aviv Tribune Net, he added, “The situation of the emergency department staff is difficult because of its proximity to the main entrance, where military jeeps are stationed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We are struggling to respond to the calls of patients in need of urgent treatment, and we are suffering from power outages and water scarcity.”
Government delegation under siege
Bakr spoke about the hospital’s situation at a time when he was with Jenin Governor Kamal Abu al-Rab, Jenin Mayor Nidal al-Obeidi, and a number of crews in the municipality building, which was under siege by Israeli occupation forces who were besieging a house in Nablus at the southern entrance to the city of Jenin.
While the gunfire was heard in the vicinity of the besieged house, and the occupation forced the residents of the house to evacuate, the governor and his accompanying delegation continued to be prevented from leaving the municipality building located in the same location as the house.
An hour later, the official delegation was able to leave the municipality building and head to the Ministry of Health headquarters in the city, where the ministerial meeting was held. The Government Communications Center said in a statement that the occupation had obstructed the ministerial delegation’s arrival for two hours and prevented the Minister of Health from reaching Jenin Governmental Hospital.
Jenin Governor Kamal Abu al-Rab said during a press conference held at the Ministry of Health, “The occupation expanded the military operation in Jenin and its villages, and this prevented us from arriving as official delegations to see up close the suffering of our people.”
Government spokesman Mohammed Abu al-Rab said, “This delegation came at the request of the president, to try to alleviate the suffering of our people, by developing plans in the Ministry of Health and Local Government and coordinating with the local committees in the governorate and the Popular Committee for the Camps.”
The Minister of Health, for his part, spoke about the approval of building a second government hospital in the city urgently at a cost of $30 million.
Clashes with resistance fighters
Events continued in towns and villages located west of Jenin and to its southwest. The occupation forces surrounded a house in the town of Yamoun, west of the city, and sent military reinforcements towards it, and demanded a young man via loudspeakers to surrender himself.
The town’s residents said that the occupation forces fired Energy shells more than once at the besieged house, while the sounds of explosive devices exploding were heard in a number of locations in the town.
Meanwhile, reports indicated that a house in the village of Kafr Qud was surrounded, where the Red Crescent transferred two people injured by live bullets, after clashes with resistance fighters, in addition to the siege of a house in the village of Al-Hashimiya, west of Jenin, and snipers were deployed in its vicinity and fired randomly at it.
In Burqin, southwest of Jenin, the Israeli occupation army stormed the town accompanied by military bulldozers and began to bulldoze the streets. Burqin Mayor Mohammad Sabah said, “Since the first day of storming the city of Jenin and its camp, the occupation forces have been storming villages west and southwest of Jenin on a daily basis. Yesterday, the occupation bulldozers cut off the main road linking the town to the Jenin camp and the villages of Hashimiya, Ya’bad and Kafr Qud.”
He added during his interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “Today, military bulldozers entered the main street in the town, and began to demolish the main roundabout and the extension of the main street in the town.”
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said – via its Telegram channel – that its fighters continue to confront and clash with enemy forces besieging a house in the city of Jenin with weapons, machine guns and explosive devices.