Israeli army labels Jenin ‘closed military zone’
Israeli troops have been conducting near-daily raids of the rebellious West Bank city, destroying homes and bulldozing vital infrastructure
The Israeli army designated the occupied West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp as a “closed military zone” on 29 November, as another round of brutal overnight raids and heavy clashes extended into the morning.
"[Israel] declared the city of Jenin and its camp a closed military zone and deployed its forces with large reinforcements across several neighborhoods,” Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Local sources say Israeli forces stormed the Jenin refugee camp on Tuesday night, launching a “massive campaign” of arrests across its eastern neighborhood, resulting in the “outbreak of violent confrontations” between troops and resistance fighters. The clashes remained ongoing the following day, and several Palestinians have been injured.
WAFA added that the army’s bulldozers continued to intentionally destroy infrastructure across the camp, coinciding with heavy drone flights overhead. The destruction centered on the Al-Damj and Al-Samran neighborhoods and further damage was inflicted on the camp’s roads and water and sewage networks.
Israeli forces launched a drone strike on the Jenin camp and tightened their siege on Ibn Sina Hospital – which the troops encircled days ago during a raid on the city, along with two other health facilities. An ambulance crew was detained at the Jenin Government Hospital, also surrounded by Israeli troops.
“Snipers were reported to have been positioned on the rooftops of some buildings in the city and the vicinity of the Jenin refugee camp during the raid, which is continuing until now, heightening fear among the residents,” WAFA wrote.
The latest raid in Jenin comes as Gaza entered the sixth day of a truce, which Egyptian and Qatari officials are working to extend.
Hamas spokesman, Ghazi Hamad, told the News Week magazine on 29 November: “The ceasefire agreement is limited to the Gaza Strip only … We are following what is happening in the West Bank in terms of serious violations of the occupation, and we affirm our position to resist the occupation wherever it is.”
Groups affiliated with Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement are highly active in the occupied West Bank and clash with Israeli troops on a near-daily basis.
The army has launched numerous raids into Jenin and other West Bank cities since the outbreak of war on 7 October.
The previous raid in Jenin took place on 25 and 26 November, resulting in the deaths of five Palestinians, as well as unprecedented damage to the camp’s infrastructure.
“Israeli occupation authorities have deliberately been destroying the economic infrastructure of Jenin, causing losses in the millions of shekels across various sectors,” the Directorate of National Economy in the Jenin Governorate said on Sunday, 26 November, according to WAFA.