Smoke billows from the site of several explosions during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin [Getty]
Israeli forces blew up at least 21 buildings containing some 80 residential apartments in various neighbourhoods of the Jenin refugee camp on Sunday in what Israel has dubbed Operation “Iron Walls”.
Bashir Matahin, the director of public relations and media at Jenin Municipality, reported seeing clouds of smoke billowing over the area as the demolitions took place in comments to The New Arab‘s Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
He said that the camp had already been emptied of its residents, who were forced to flee since the start of the ongoing Israeli assault on the occupied West Bank.
While no casualties had been reported as of Sunday evening but the scale of destruction was described as “immense”.
The Israeli military confirmed the demolitions, stating that it had destroyed “several buildings” in Jenin as part of what it described as an operation “to thwart terrorism”.
“The [Israeli forces] recently destroyed several buildings in Jenin,” the army said in a statement, claiming that the structures “were used as terrorist infrastructure”.
Matahin revealed that since the early on Sunday, Israeli forces had been planting explosive barrels inside multiple buildings across different parts of Jenin camp.
Israeli forces issued threats to residents of Jenin city and surrounding areas before detonating the buildings, according to comments by Jenin-based journalist Asri Fayyad.
While there is a truce in Gaza, after more than 47,000 Palestinians were killed, Palestinians fear Israel has turned its sights on the West Bank, where settlers and soldiers have targeted residents in the occupied territory with increased vigour since last week.
Sunday marked the 13th consecutive day of Israel’s assault on Jenin city and refugee camp, which has been under siege.
Since the offensive began, 26 Palestinians from Jenin city, its refugee camp, and surrounding villages have been killed.
Most families in the camp have been forced to flee, while Israeli forces have devastated infrastructure, demolished homes, and burned down dozens of buildings.
