About 3,000 Palestinians flee from Jenin before the Israeli military operation

About 3,000 Palestinians have fled their homes in the Palestinian city of Jenin, in the northern West Bank, fleeing a military operation launched by the Israeli army by land and air in the biggest offensive in two decades. The deputy governor of the city, Kamal Abu al Roub, assured that measures are being taken to relocate civilians in shelters and schools in safe places in Jenin. The Palestinian Red Crescent Rescue Service expects the mass exodus to continue until the Israeli incursion ends.

July 4: Heartbreaking destruction in #Jenin 10 Palestinians failed, 100 injured – 20 critically. An incredible 120 stopped. Infrastructure decimated, denying access to electricity, water and sustainable roads. Homes deleted. A merciless siege. Israel’s deadly rampage remains unstoppable pic.twitter.com/zVl74BbsUG

— Motto (@Lemapal) July 4, 2023

Operation, synchronized House and garden, continued this Tuesday for the second day and has already left at least ten dead and about a hundred injured, twenty of whom are in critical condition. More than 24 hours after the attack, the electricity supply is interrupteds, and there is neither water nor food for the population. “There are aerial bombardments and invasions on the ground,” announced Mahmud al Saadi, director of the Palestinian Red Crescent in the city. Medical teams from non-governmental organizations delivered emergency supplies and distributed blankets, mattresses, hygiene kits and water. “First responders have been prevented from entering the refugee camp even to reach seriously injured people,” World Health Organization (WHO) spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters on Tuesday.

For its part, Médecins Sans Frontières condemned Israel denying medical teams access to the refugee camp, throwing tear gas at the Jalil Suleiman hospital in Jenin, and that military armored vehicles hit several ambulances.

The historical stronghold of the Palestinian armed struggle

The Jenin refugee camp was established in the 1950s, with the aim of providing refuge to Palestinians who were forced to leave their homes after the creation of the State of Israel. Currently, the area is consumed by poverty and has long been a hotbed of what Palestinians consider armed resistance, and Israelis consider terrorism, in the northern West Bank.

The Israel Defense Forces said the attack was aimed at weakening the center of operations known as Jenin brigadean armed group that gathers several militias and that has had repercussions since its constitution in 2022.

The attack began with an aerial bombardment near a mosque inside the camp, an area the Israeli military said was being used by a paramilitary group. The Jenin Brigade, made up of armed men from various factions, has been blamed for several terrorist attacks on the Israeli population, amid an escalation of violence that has occurred in the past year and a half, not seen since the heavy fire of the 2005 Palestinian conflict.

Operation House and Garden resembles the tactics used by the Israeli army in the second intifada (2000-2005), and takes place after a few weeks pressures Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from far-right government partners and a pro-settler party to launch a major campaign against Palestinian militias.

And the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (three countries with diplomatic ties to Israel) have condemned the attack. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also called on Israel to refrain, and UN Secretary General António Guterres expressed “deep concern”.

Netanyahu defended the incursion, saying that in recent months Jenin “has become a safe space for terrorists” and that his goal is to end this event by causing “the least possible harm to civilians.”

For its part, the Palestinian government held an emergency meeting last Monday where it was decided to suspend it security coordination with Israel, a measure he had already adopted on previous occasions.

The number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank is increasing 154 so far this year, while the Israelis died in total 25which makes 2023 the deadliest year conflicts in the last two decades.