Thousands of people flee Jenin while the Israeli army continues demolitions, marking the greatest movement in decades through the West Bank.
The Israeli army continued with its large -scale military raid in the city of Western West Bank in the north of Jenin and its refugee camp, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.
Wednesday marks 30 days since the Israeli forces began their assault on Jenin who then spread to other parts of the north of the West Bank, notably Tulkarem and his refugee camp Nur Shams. At least 26 Palestinians have been killed in Jenin since January 21.
The army also deployed hundreds of soldiers and bulldozers who have demolished houses and torn vital infrastructure in the overcrowded camp, forcing almost all of its residents.
“We don’t know what’s going on in the camp, but there is a continuous demolition and determined roads,” said Mohammed al-Sabbagh, head of the Jenin Camp services committee.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday, the mayor of Jenin, Mohammed Jarrar, said that the Israeli army “had adopted a random destruction model” in the camp and its environment in order to make the camp “uninhabitable”.
The mass movement of Palestinians from various parts of the West Bank in recent weeks has marked the largest travel operation in decades.
The camps, built for the descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their houses in the 1948 NAKBA around the creation of Israel, were long major centers for resistance groups fighting the Israeli occupation.
They have been attacked several times by the Israeli army, but the current operation, which began as the ceasefire was agreed in the besieged and bombed Gaza Strip, was on a large scale.
According to figures from the Palestinian authority, around 17,000 people have now been forced to leave Jenin’s refugee camp, which left him almost deserted. In Nur Shams, 6,000 people, or about two -thirds of its population, were forced to get out, with 10,000 others who left the Tulkarem camp.
“Those who stay are trapped,” said Nihad Al-Shawish, head of the Nur Shams camp services. “Civil defense, the Red Crescent and the Palestinian Security Forces brought them food yesterday, but the army is still in the bulldozer and destroyed the camp.”
The Israeli raids have demolished dozens of houses and torn large sections of roads as well as the cutting of water and power.
Humanitarian officials say that they have not seen such a displacement in the West Bank since the War of the Middle East of 1967, when Israel captured the territory west of the Jordan river, as well as Jerusalem-Est and the band from Gaza.
“It is unprecedented. When you add to this the destruction of infrastructure, we reach a point where the camps become uninhabitable, “said Roland Friedrich, Cisjordanian director for UNRWA, the United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees.
Israeli forces have also continued to arrest Palestinians through the West Bank.
On Wednesday, four people, two of whom, were detained from Jenin.
Also on Wednesday, an elderly woman was killed in the chest near the entrance to the Jenin refugee camp.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa said that Israeli forces have sealed the entrances to the camp and that the soldiers stationed at the main entrance fired on people who try to approach.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli forces have made a descent and demolished a house in Hebron, while the military bulldozers shaved the agricultural land.
