Palestinians in Jenin refugee camp: Israeli army encouraged exodus during the fighting
Residents evacuate Jenin refugee camp during an Israeli military operation on 3 July 2023
Jack Khoury, Hagar Shezaf, Yaniv Kubovich and Deiaa Haj Yahia report in Haaretz on 5 July 2023:
In the middle of the night between Monday and Tuesday, Maisoon, a mother of seven children, left Jenin refugee camp, claiming that Israeli troops used loudspeakers to advise residents in her neighborhood: “Anyone who wants to leave, should leave.” After she spoke to one of the soldiers, she had made up her mind. “I asked the soldier what [they] intended to do and whether they intended to shell the house. Then he yelled ‘sheket’ [quiet] in Hebrew, so I decided to leave with my children,” she said.
Maisoon and her family moved to a hotel in Jenin and waited, not knowing what had become of her house. “Granted that we’re in a refugee camp, but for us, it’s home in every respect. We want to return there as soon as possible. I really hope that the house still hasn’t been damaged,” she told Haaretz prior to the end of Israel’s military operation in the area.
Her family were just a handful of about 3,000 Palestinians that had fled the West Bank refugee camp, a figure provided by the deputy governor in Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Roub, to Radio al-Shams, out of an estimated population of 15,000 to 20,000.
On Wednesday, an IDF spokesperson formally announced that the operation in the Jenin camp had ended and that all Israeli forces had left the camp. As Israel was withdrawing its forces, Sgt.-Maj. David Yehuda Yitzhak was killed in clashes with Palestinian militants.
Over the course of the two days of fighting, hospitals in Jenin were overwhelmed with dozens of casualties. At the government hospital, staff said it was the worst influx they had experienced in years. On Tuesday, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that 12 Palestinians had been killed and at least 100 injured.
Now, with the smoke and rubble clearing, testimonies are shedding light on what happened during the largest-scale Israeli operation in the West Bank in almost two decades.
Israeli army sources said that Palestinians in the West Bank refugee camp had not been asked to leave, except for isolated cases in which there was concern over harm to civilians from the airstrikes. Nevertheless, the army did create a humanitarian corridor to enable those wishing to leave to do so.
Speaking on Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “Over the past year, the residents of Jenin have become hostages at the hands of terrorists.” He added, “Today thousands of people who wanted a tranquil and quiet life left Jenin.”
In response to this story, the IDF Spokesman’s Office said: “IDF forces operated in accordance with intelligence information in a targeted and limited manner in Jenin to foil the threat of terrorism against … Israelis. In some of the cases, houses were used in accordance with the authority granted by the military commander in the area to take over property. To the extent possible and subject to operational limitations, the security forces acted to limit harm to property and non-combatants.”
But several who spoke to Haaretz said that the Israeli army had actively encouraged them to leave their homes. Others said that they left in the face of fear and the major destruction in the camp due to the Israeli military operation on the ground and the attacks from the air.
“The army threatened us to leave our homes because they wanted to shell them,” alleged 63-year-old Ahmed al-Said. “The army jeeps had been beneath the window of my house since [late Sunday night]. For all those hours, we were living one big nightmare. We have two children at home. I am not in good health and my wife is elderly.”
Rimah Abu al-Haja, who left her home in the refugee camp late Monday night, said that late Sunday night one of the Israeli aerial bombs hit not far from her home. “We were terrified. We had elderly people with us,” she said. “The bombing didn’t hit us, but our window collapsed onto us. I have a 4-month-old child who was crying all the time.”
Al-Haja, who is 35, claimed that Israeli troops had entered her house and “destroyed everything in the house.” She said at around 9 A.M., the army directed them to move to a neighbor’s house and that they were only allowed to return home at five in the evening. When they returned, they discovered that the soldiers had “taken apart their television screen, opened the closets [and] the refrigerator,” she said. ”I have an embroidered map of Palestine and they crossed out the word Palestine and wrote Israel on it.”
On Monday night, Palestinian rescue services came to the Al-Haja household and told them they could leave the camp if they wished to. “We left home without anything,” she said. “They told us we had 40 minutes to leave, and we were afraid. We wanted to get out as quickly as possible. We didn’t know what was happening.”
She walked to a hospital not far from her home. “There was huge destruction. Everything was destroyed and burned. I wish I hadn’t seen it,” she said. Relatives of Al-Haja who don’t live in the refugee camp, picked Al-Haja and her family up from the hospital.
She said her baby hadn’t slept since Sunday night when the military operation began. “He’s tired, exhausted,” said Al-Haja, who also expressed concern about her mother and other relatives who remained in the camp. She said she wasn’t able to contact them because of the damage to the electricity grid and to internet service there.
A map of Jenin.
Another resident of the camp who asked not to be identified told Haaretz that he decided to remain at home, added that he and his family were adamant about staying.
“We won’t leave our home even if they bring it down on our heads. After all, back in 1948, [members of our family] left and they had been told that they would come back after a week, and that week has now lasted 75 years. We won’t make the same mistake.” Saying that he is part of a generation that is prepared to sacrifice a lot for his homeland, he added that “the Nakba was 75 years ago,” referring to the displacement of Palestinians in the Israeli War of Independence. “As long as we’re alive, we won’t permit another one.”
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