The Israeli siege on the West Bank city of Jenin has left Palestinians without food, water or electricity, and the medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, has accused Israeli forces of obstructing access to health facilities and attacking ambulances.
“All basic needs,” including bread, inside the refugee camp “no longer exist,” Taher al-Saadi, a Jenin resident who managed to escape, told Al Jazeera.
Fayza Abu Jaafar, another resident who fled Jenin, said the situation is “very hard” for children still trapped in the area, who are “terrified” by the destruction carried out by Israeli forces.
The Israeli army sent in reinforcements on Sunday after demolishing shops and bulldozing streets, while preventing tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians from accessing humanitarian aid, in a move described as a “war crime.” Israel has also been accused of war crimes during its ongoing military offensive in Gaza.
According to the Jenin municipality, the Israeli army has razed almost 70 percent of the city's streets and 20 kilometers of its water and sewage networks since it launched its raids on Wednesday, August 28. As a result, 80 percent of the Jenin refugee camp, home to 20,000 people, has been left without access to water, the Jenin municipality says.
At least 24 Palestinians have been killed in a five-day Israeli attack that Al Jazeera correspondent Nida Ibrahim called “the most destructive attack we have seen” in decades.
“We heard gunshots and loud explosions,” Ibrahim said. “The main streets in Jenin have also been destroyed and bulldozers are digging in the area.”
“This reminds us of what it means to be a Palestinian under military occupation. You have no control over your city or your streets. You don’t know if you will get home safely or if your house will be saved,” Ibrahim said while reporting from outside Jenin.
Kamal Abu al-Rub, the governor of Jenin, has described the situation so far as similar to the Israeli destruction in 2002, when the camp was “razed to the ground” and dozens were killed.
'Clear war crime'
In addition to extensive damage to public services and infrastructure, Israeli troops have also raided numerous homes and damaged and “looted” private property, while subjecting residents to interrogation and “harsh treatment,” the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Among those subjected to interrogation and beatings was a trained volunteer from Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the group said in a statement, adding that Israeli forces have surrounded the Khalil Suleiman Hospital, forcing its team to suspend dialysis care for patients in Jenin.
“Israel must respect its obligations as an occupying power in the occupied West Bank,” says MSF.
Israel has killed at least 675 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since October 7. During the same period, more than 10,300 Palestinians have been arrested and detained by Israeli forces.
Israel's escalation of its campaign in the occupied West Bank comes as its bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and destroyed large parts of the besieged enclave.
In an interview with Al Jazeera on Sunday, Kenneth Roth, former director of Human Rights Watch, said that what Israel did in Gaza over the past 11 months is now being carried out in the occupied West Bank.
“This has really become an open war,” said Roth, who is now a visiting scholar at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs.
“One of the basic rules is that Israel must allow access to humanitarian aid. It cannot simply cut off food, water, electricity and medical care, as we have heard it is doing. It has a duty to allow it to reach the civilian population,” Roth added.
He said Israel cannot use the presence of fighters in the occupied West Bank as an excuse “to starve civilians.”
“Instead of fighting the militants, which Israel has the right to do, it is fighting the entire population, and that is a clear war crime.”
