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Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank has become “almost uninhabitable”, due to a protracted siege by Palestinian security forces and new Israeli raids, now in their second day, the UN said on Wednesday.
At least 10 Palestinians were killed and more than 40 wounded in the Israeli military's Iron Wall operation on Tuesday. Video footage shared by the Palestinian news agency Wafa showed bulldozers tearing up roads in the camp.
On Wednesday, two Palestinians, including a 50-year-old man, were wounded by Israeli gunfire in Jenin and its refugee camp, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Three others were injured by Israeli forces and taken to hospital, it said.
“Yesterday, Israeli security forces launched a massive operation in Jenin camp and city, using advanced weaponry and warfare methods, including air strikes,” said Roland Friedrich, director of UNRWA affairs for the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, on X.
“The camp is nearly uninhabitable, with some 2,000 families displaced since mid-December,” he said, adding that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has been unable to provide its full services, given the current situation.
UNRWA is less than a week away from being effectively banned in the West Bank, after two Israeli laws were passed preventing the agency from operating there. This would bring dire humanitarian consequences for the millions of people who depend on its services, say observers.
Speaking to Qatar-based news outlet Al Jazeera, Jenin's Al Razi Hospital director Mohamed Ghawar said the exact number of injuries could not be determined due to the difficulty in reaching people in need of assistance.
“There are bodies lying on the ground that cannot be transferred to hospital either,” he said.
Days before Israel's raid on Jenin, the Palestinian Authority had reached an agreement with resistance fighters who operate in the camp. This effectively allowed the PA to go after “outlaws” in exchange for ending its siege that began last month.
The authority says its forces are seeking individuals with outstanding arrest warrants for murder, theft and other crimes.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group accused the PA of “paving the way” for Israeli forces to raid the camp and arrest people, “including from inside hospitals”.
“The security agreement between the Palestinian Authority and the occupation only serves the occupation at the expense of the blood of our people and its rights and future,” the PIJ said.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces had launched an “extensive and significant” operation to “defeat terrorism” in Jenin.
The UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese warned Israel's "death machinery" had escalated in the West Bank only days after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
"As the long awaited ceasefire in Gaza took place, Israel's death machinery escalated its firing in the West Bank, killing 10 people in Jenin today," she wrote on X. "If it is not forced to stop, Israel's genocide of Palestinians will not be confined to Gaza. Mark my words."
