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Israel intensifies assault on Jenin for second day in a row

In scenes reminiscent of the murder of Palestinian child Hind Rajab and her relatives, the Israeli occupation army killed a Palestinian father yesterday, while he was driving with his children and wife in the city of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank.

January 22, 2025 at 4:17 pm

Israeli occupation forces have continued their military attacks in Jenin and its refugee camp for a second day.

According to Wafa news agency, Israeli occupation forces detained Ashraf Bahr, a wounded youth, along with his father and brother from the Jenin camp. Soldiers also seized a house in the Khallet Al-Sawha neighbourhood, converting it into a military post.

Moreover, Israeli military bulldozers began demolishing roads, including the street leading to Jenin Governmental Hospital and blocked its entrances with piles of earth. Similar destruction was carried out around Ibn Sina Hospital, with streets in the city and camp systematically torn up.

Israeli soldiers with snipers were positioned on rooftops of Palestinian homes and residential buildings overlooking the camp, while the entrances to Jenin remained sealed, preventing residents from leaving the area.

Jenin Hospital Director, Wissam Bakr, expressed concern over the implications of the damage to the roads for patient care and noted that the Red Cross has been informed of the Israeli attacks. Throughout the night, Israeli occupation forces deployed additional military reinforcements to Jenin and its camp entrances, further intensifying their operations.

In a scene reminiscent of the killing of Hind Rajab and her relatives in Gaza, Israeli occupation forces repeatedly shot a Palestinian vehicle, killing the driver, a father who had just collected his children from school and was driving with them and his wife.

The assault on Jenin began yesterday with an unprecedented military campaign, involving bulldozers, drones and warplanes. By the end of the first day, at least ten Palestinians had been killed, and nearly 40 others injured.

An Israeli military statement said that the operation in Jenin, code-named “Iron Wall”, is expected to last several days.

Tension has been running high across the Occupied West Bank due to Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, where at least 47,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 110,700 injured since 7 October 2023.

At least 870 Palestinians have since been killed and over 6,700 injured by Israeli occupation army fire in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. A ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement took effect in Gaza on 19 January, suspending the Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave.

In July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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