Timeline: Israel’s deadly seven-day raid in occupied West Bank’s Jenin

Jenin is once again the target of a major Israeli assault, leaving a trail of death and destruction.

Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 20 Palestinians have been killed since Israeli military operations started on 28 August 2024 in the West Bank cities of Tulkarem, Jenin and Tubas. The Israeli army said that it's conducting a large-scale counter-terrorism operation in several areas. More than 40,000 Palestinians and over 1,400 Israelis have been killed, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), since Hamas militants launched an attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip on 07 October 2023, and the Israeli operations in Gaza and the West Bank which followed it. EPA-EFE/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, on August 31, 2024 [Alaa Badarneh/EPA]

The Israeli military is now carrying out its seventh day of massive raids across the occupied West Bank, including in Jenin, a city that houses nearly 50,000 people.

The largest Israeli assault on the occupied territories since the second Intifada in the early 2000s has left several dozen Palestinians killed, at a time when Israel is also engaged in a devastating war on Gaza.

INTERACTIVE - Israeli assaults map West Bank Jenin Nur Shams Fara-1725371825
(Al Jazeera)

Palestinians in the occupied territory are now struggling to secure basic necessities, including food and water, in the wake of the widespread destruction by Israeli forces in Jenin.

Let’s take a look at each of the seven days of incursions:

August 28

Israel launched the largest raids in the occupied West Bank in more than two decades, targeting Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas in particular, killing at least 10 people.

The assaults, which began in the early hours of Wednesday, involved hundreds of ground soldiers advancing in bulldozers and armoured vehicles, supported by fighter jets and drones that dropped bombs.

Israeli soldiers operate during a raid in the Nur Shams camp for Palestinian refugees near the city of Tulkarem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on August 28, 2024. - At least 10 Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids and strikes in several towns in the north of the occupied West Bank, a spokesman for the Red Crescent said on August 28. The operation comes two days after Israel said it carried out an air strike on the West Bank that the Palestinian Authority reported killed five people. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Israeli soldiers operate during a raid in the Nur Shams camp for Palestinian refugees near the city of Tulkarem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on August 28, 2024 [Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP]

August 29

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Access to hospitals was blocked with dirt barriers by heavily armed Israeli forces, with other medical facilities surrounded by troops.

The confirmed death toll rose to at least 18, with eight Palestinians killed in the Jenin governorate. Dozens more were wounded across the three major areas that came under attack.

The Israeli military called in reinforcements, and Palestinian sources reported that at least 25 people were detained in the occupied areas in the preceding 24 hours.

A member of the Israeli security forces looks out from a military vehicle, during a raid, in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 28, 2024. [Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]
A member of the Israeli security forces looks out from a military vehicle during a raid in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on August 28, 2024 [Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]

August 30

The Israeli military withdrew from Tulkarem and Tubas after leaving a trail of destruction, but stepped up attacks on Jenin, with the death toll climbing to 21.

At least three people were killed early on Friday after Israeli forces attacked a car in the village of Zababdeh, south of Jenin.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the occupied areas reported that the bodies of the three were taken away by Israeli forces. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that Israeli forces obstructed ambulances from reaching the scene of the attack.

Palestinians assess the damage at the scene of an Israeli strike on a car near Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
Palestinians assess the damage at the scene of an Israeli strike on a car near Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 30, 2024 [Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]

August 31

Israeli forces blew up homes in the Jenin refugee camp’s al-Jabriyat neighbourhood, with paramedics struggling to contact and reach casualties after telecommunications were blocked.

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Reporting from Jenin on Saturday, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said, “Jenin is a ghost town. All of the shops are closed. Nobody is leaving their homes.”

Israel’s army on Saturday announced the first death of a soldier in clashes with Palestinian fighters since the start of the raids.

a firefighter puts out a fire
Rescue workers extinguish flames after Israeli forces set a vegetable market on fire in Jenin on August 31 [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu]

 

September 1

Israeli forces continued to forcibly evacuate Palestinian families from their homes, including those living in the Abdullah Azzam neighbourhood in the Jenin camp. Families from the neighbourhoods of ad-Damj, al-Suha, and al-Faluja were also forcibly displaced, according to the Wafa news agency.

The agency reported that in the camp’s main square, Israeli forces detained residents and interrogated them in the field amid extensive raids, searches, and detentions.

The municipality in Jenin provided a clearer picture of the large-scale destruction left by Israeli forces, which had killed at least 24 Palestinians at that point and displaced thousands.

According to the municipality, the Israeli army:

  • Bulldozed nearly 70 percent of the city’s streets.
  • Destroyed 20km (12.4 miles) of its water and sewage networks.
  • Left 80 percent of the Jenin refugee camp without water access.
ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/JENIN
An Israeli military vehicle takes part in a raid in Jenin on September 1 [Mohammed Torokman/Reuters]

 

September 2

A Palestinian teenager was killed by live Israeli fire in the town of Kafr Dan west of Jenin, according to the PRCS, which said emergency responders were denied access to the 16-year-old girl for over half an hour as she bled to death. Another young Palestinian was also wounded in the thigh by the Israeli forces’ live fire.

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Israeli troops handed the body of a Palestinian man who was arrested about an hour earlier in Kafr Dan to Palestinian health authorities. The 58-year-old Ayman Rajeh Abed was arrested at dawn, and his body came in handcuffed and bearing signs of torture, according to Wissam Bakr, the director of Jenin Governmental Hospital.

Israeli forces and bulldozers attacked a group of journalists while they were covering the destruction of a roundabout and surrounding shops, and opened fire directly on them, which resulted in multiple injuries.

Last night, Israeli soldiers also detained an ambulance crew while transporting an emergency medical case to Jenin Governmental Hospital and assaulted a number of them.

Israel Palestinians
A man waves the Palestinian flag as a convoy of Israeli military bulldozers drives by during an army raid in Jenin on September 2 [Majdi Mohammed/AP Photo]

September 3

Occupation forces have continued to destroy the centre of Jenin city, with bulldozers razing Cinema Street and large parts of Hospitals Street to the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital.

They have also destroyed shops and roads in the Cinema Roundabout area and Post Street, which had also been heavily targeted earlier in the raid.

Wafa said two of its photojournalists were shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers in Kafr Dan.

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At dawn on Tuesday, Israeli forces stormed the village of Muthalath al-Shuhada, south of Jenin. They reportedly deployed snipers on the roofs of several houses, raided six homes, and detained a number of citizens before withdrawing from the town.

At least another 22 Palestinians were detained in the 24 hours leading up to 12pm (09:00 GMT) on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.

Israeli forces in Jenin
Israeli troops take position in the centre of Jenin during a raid on September 3 amid a large-scale military offensive launched a week earlier in the north of the occupied West Bank [Zain Jaafar/AFP]

Source: Al Jazeera

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