Rights and Accountability 23 May 2024
Palestinians mourn their loved ones at the Khalil Suleiman governmental hospital in Jenin on 21 May.
APA imagesA deadly Israeli raid into Jenin and its refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank entered its third day on Thursday.
Twelve Palestinians, including a doctor, a schoolteacher and at least four children, have been killed by Israel during the incursion. Israeli fire has wounded at least 25 Palestinians, with some sustaining severe injuries.
Undercover Israeli agents – so-called mistaravim – infiltrated the city of Jenin before their unit was exposed, prompting armed Palestinians to exchange fire with them.
Mistaravim usually dress up as Palestinians to abduct, injure and infiltrate groups of civilians. Israel has even used mistaravim to kidnap and kill Palestinians inside hospitals.
The Jenin Brigade, a group associated with Saraya al-Quds, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, said its fighters have been resisting the Israeli incursion into the Jenin refugee camp and surrounding areas, confronting the occupying forces with gunfire.
The group announced that it detonated explosive devices aimed at Israeli armored vehicles and infantry troops both within and on the outskirts of the refugee camp. It claimed to have directly inflicted casualties among the ranks of the occupation forces and damaged their vehicles.
This was corroborated by media reports.
Killings
Israeli forces fatally shot a surgeon, Osayd Kamal Jabareen, while he was en route to work at the Jenin governmental hospital.
Jabareen, aged 50, had spent many years working for the health service.
“The deliberate killing of the doctor by the occupying forces compounds the ongoing series of daily crimes and assaults on the Palestinian healthcare sector in all its facets across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry said.
Local media circulated Jabareen’s picture following his killing:
Israeli fire also killed Allam Ziyad Jaradat, a schoolteacher from al-Sila al-Harithiya town west of Jenin. He was a former prisoner. Mahmoud Amjad Ismail Hamadneh, 15, was shot by an Israeli sniper in the head, chest and foot while returning home from school on an electric bicycle, Defense for Children International - Palestine said.The teenager’s friend Karam was riding another electric bike and was injured by a bullet in the shoulder. Karam was transferred to hospital.
An Israeli sniper also shot and killed 15-year-old Osama Muhammad Hujair on Tuesday morning while he was riding a motorcycle. He was struck by two bullets, one in the head and the other in the hand.
“Israeli forces and settlers have killed 43 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2024,” DCIP said.
A picture of a Palestinian boy who was fatally shot while riding his bike in Jenin on Tuesday morning was circulated by news media:
Wanton destruction
Israeli forces continued their relentless campaign of destroying infrastructure, as they had been doing systemically during military raids into Palestinian cities and refugee camps across the West Bank.
They damaged and demolished roads, vegetable stands, commercial structures and civilian property, including vehicles, and converted numerous homes in both the city and its refugee camp into military positions.
The destruction of infrastructure led to widespread blackouts in electricity, communications and internet services across both the city and the camp.Video footage depicts Israeli military bulldozers dismantling road infrastructure in Jenin refugee camp and surrounding areas.
There has been a surge in armed resistance, particularly in specific areas and refugee camps in the northern occupied West Bank. One tactic involves planting makeshift explosive devices strategically under roads to thwart invading Israeli armored vehicles.This video depicts an Israeli bulldozer demolishing a roundabout:
Local media circulated pictures and footage of damage to residential homes and other infrastructure in the camp: One video appears to show an armored vehicle getting towed from the Jenin refugee camp after sustaining damage. Israeli forces raided homes in the refugee camp, arresting Palestinians, including 48-year-old Wafaa Jarrar from Jenin city, who is a candidate for the Palestinian Legislative Council elections. Jarrar was wounded when the military vehicle that was carrying her drove over an explosive device, the newspaper Haaretz reported.Israeli forces even besieged the Jenin governmental hospital and positioned snipers nearby. Video footage depicts Israeli forces obstructing Palestinian ambulances, preventing them from reaching their destinations.
Israeli drones hovered in the city’s sky.West Bank colonial violence
Israel’s military incursions into West Bank cities, towns and refugee camps have escalated in scale, intensity and lethality since 7 October.
The Israeli army has also been conducting aerial attacks in the West Bank, a practice it revived from the second intifada two decades ago.
Israeli troops have killed more than 470 Palestinians in the West Bank since 7 October.
Additionally, Israeli settlers have killed at least 10 Palestinians, and another seven were killed by either Israeli army or settler fire, according to documentation by UN monitoring group OCHA.
Israeli forces have injured over 5,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since 7 October, more than 30 percent of them by live ammunition.
“While Israel carries on with its genocide in Gaza, it continues undeterred to perpetrate its colonial violence in the occupied West Bank amidst the lack of any accountability,” Gaza-based human rights organization Al Mezan said.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention issued an “active genocide alert” over the situation for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, declaring that “Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians across Palestine.”
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