In Jenin, families are enduring poverty and an endless cycle of Israeli raids
The Wahdan family peer out of their home which is pockmarked with bullet holes, Jenin in November 2024
Aziza Nofal reports in Middle East Eye on 12 November 2024:
During each Israeli incursion into the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, 53-year-old Zahra Mahmoud Mari gathers whatever clothes and essential items she can grab. With her three daughters and husband, she leaves the family home on Mehyoub Street located in the heart of the camp and heads to the Shuhadaa neighbourhood on the outskirts of Jenin in search of safety.
There the family rent a small house using savings and the little income they have, which provides temporary safety from the Israeli occupation forces. They stay there, transfixed to news reports, waiting for the announcement that the Israelis have left so they can return home.
“It’s not easy to leave our home and camp,” Mari told MEE. “We’re not running away, but it’s a hard choice forced upon us.” Mari’s neighbourhood is the focal point of Israeli raids in Jenin and even her home near the Ansar mosque has been targeted multiple times. During the initial incursions into the camp in July 2023, Mari’s home was damaged, and her family endured three difficult days with Israeli soldiers stationed around the house the entire time.
Following the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, the family’s situation worsened; Israeli forces blew up her husband’s brother’s homes, which were adjacent to her own, and caused further damage to hers in December 2023. Mari recalled the final straw in June, which led to her decision not to stick around for the next Israeli incursion into her neighbourhood.
The family home came under heavy gunfire, and she said that her family experienced hours of terror. “After more than an hour of direct shooting at the room where we were gathered, I risked my life and put my hand out the window, shouting that there were children in the house.
“Only then did they allow us to leave.”