Jenin Mayor Nidal Obeidi described the destruction caused by the Israeli occupation army in the city, its eastern neighborhood and its camp as being like an earthquake, estimating the damage at about 500 million shekels ($135.2 million).
Obaidi told Anadolu Agency that the great loss is in the lives of the martyrs, and on the material level there is great destruction caused by the occupation’s mechanisms to the infrastructure, including the breaking and sabotage of water and communications lines and the shooting of electricity transformers.
He added that the destruction exceeds what the occupation caused in previous operations, and is estimated at about 500 million shekels ($135.2 million).
Describing the destruction taking place, particularly in the eastern neighborhood and the camp, the mayor of Jenin said, “It was as if an earthquake had struck the city; there was great destruction, streets were dug up, houses were demolished, and others were blown up.”
Obaidi accused the occupation army of deliberately causing sabotage and destruction, saying, “The operation is still ongoing for the fifth consecutive day, and every day brings new sabotage and destruction.”
He pointed out that the military operation “paralyzed public and economic life. The conditions of the residents are extremely difficult, and there is a severe shortage of basic materials in the eastern neighborhood and the camp due to the siege.”
He continued, “The city needs a great effort to restore and rehabilitate what the occupation destroyed, and we will work immediately after the withdrawal to rehabilitate it as much as possible to facilitate the lives of the residents.”
Last Thursday, the Palestinian Monetary Authority said that banking services were disrupted in some bank branches in the Jenin Governorate, due to the occupation army destroying the fiber lines providing internet services.
The communications network of Jawwal, one of the two main communications companies in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, was completely cut off.
Military operation
Since midnight on Tuesday, the occupation army launched a military operation in the northern West Bank, which is considered the largest since 2002, as large forces stormed the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm, their camps, and the Far’a camp near Tubas, before withdrawing at dawn on Thursday from the Far’a camp and the same evening from Tulkarm.
In Jenin, operations are still ongoing. The Israeli army has sent armored forces reinforced by the air force into the city, raided parts of the Jenin camp, and poured the weight of its forces into the eastern neighborhood, which witnessed armed clashes and the sounds of explosions emanating from the occupation forces.
In conjunction with its aggression on the Gaza Strip since October 7, the occupation expanded its operations in the West Bank while the settlers escalated their attacks, resulting in the martyrdom of 676 Palestinians, including 150 children, the injury of more than 5,400, and the arrest of more than 10,200, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
With full American support, Israel waged a war on Gaza that resulted in more than 134,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amidst massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of dozens, in one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.