Israel’s designs for Jenin refugee camp are about more than just destruction
Israeli soldiers operate with their armored vehicles in the West Bank city of Jenin, 4 March 2025
Majd Jawad reports in +972 on 16 April 2025:
For almost three months, Jenin refugee camp has been completely devoid of its inhabitants, with only Israeli soldiers and tanks able to enter. After expelling the camp’s 20,000 residents in January as part of what it calls “Operation Iron Wall,” the Israeli army has violently prevented their return. Even families who tried to visit the graves of their loved ones during Eid Al-Fitr in late March were chased away with tear gas.
Israel claims the operation is designed to eliminate resistance fighters and reinforce Israeli security in the area. But there has been no armed resistance since the army displaced the population, and Israel has set no time frame for its ongoing operation in the camp, leaving residents in a state of uncertainty.
After fleeing their homes under Israeli fire, residents are now sheltering with relatives and friends, in community centers and wedding halls, or trying to find alternative accommodation in the city. And they have no idea when — or if — they will be permitted to return.
“We were forced out of our homes without any warning,” 63-year-old Mona Obeid recounted to +972. “We didn’t have a chance to take anything with us — not even clothes. We have no idea what’s happening inside the camp. We rely on a few images and videos taken by journalists who managed to sneak in, searching for any glimpse that might show us what happened to our homes and neighborhoods.”
What can be gleaned from those images is the extent of the destruction that the Israeli military has wrought in the camp in order to make it more accessible to its own vehicles. The army has detonated entire residential blocks and bulldozed narrow streets and alleyways, while also installing more surveillance cameras and building new military watchtowers.