Palestinians brace for more violence as Israel expands its offensive on the West Bank
People inspect the rubble of a house where two Palestinian militants were killed during an Israeli raid in Burqin village near Jenin on 23 January 2025
Qassam Muaddi reports in Mondoweiss on 28 January 2025:
Israel continued its offensive in the occupied West Bank for the seventh day in a row on Tuesday, concentrating on the northern city of Jenin and continuing to expand to other areas. As part of the same offensive, Israeli forces continued to impose checkpoints and barriers across the West Bank, cutting off Palestinian communities from one another and preventing Palestinians from moving freely in the territory.
In Jenin, Israeli forces continue to raid the refugee camp in the city, demolishing and detonating several homes and forcing residents to leave the camp. Israeli forces also expanded their operations to other parts of Jenin, raiding the nearby towns of Qabatiya and Burqin. In Qabatiya, west of Jenin, an Israeli airstrike targeted a car and killed two Palestinian men on Friday. In Burqin, south of the city, a two-year-old girl was killed by Israeli fire inside her family’s house during a ground raid on the town.
“Access to the camp continues to be blocked, and many families left the camp,” a resident of Jenin who asked not to be named told Mondoweiss. “The occupation army is stationed inside the camp now, and we can hear bulldozers and explosions occasionally from outside of the camp, and we see smoke rising from inside it,” they described. “The occupation forces demolished several houses on its outer edge, especially in the eastern part, and the families who left either rented apartments in the city or went to stay over with relatives, but some have nowhere to go.”
In Jenin city, local associations opened a shelter center for Palestinians who left the camp and had no place to stay. According to the camp’s services committee, some 80% of the camp’s population has left. The United Nations agency for the relief of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said that it has been unable to deliver its services in the camp.
Israel has killed 16 Palestinians since the beginning of its offensive on Jenin and the northern West Bank a week ago, while wounding dozens more. The Israeli army said in a statement on Monday that it had killed 15 Palestinian fighters and arrested 40 others while confiscating weapons.