Israel destroys buildings in West Bank’s Jenin after killing elderly man

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israel destroyed multiple buildings in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, hours after Israeli forces killed a 73-year-old man. An Israeli military spokesperson stated that 23 buildings were destroyed in Jenin on Sunday "to prevent terrorist infrastructure from being established there." The military also stated that they have killed 50 Palestinian militants in the West Bank since mid-January.

A reporter for Al Jazeera Arabic stated that the explosions destroyed a residential area in the ad-Damj neighborhood of the refugee camp. The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that the explosions were so powerful that they could be heard throughout the city and neighboring towns. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli forces' destruction of buildings in Jenin, calling it a "barbaric scene."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to halt the destruction of entire residential areas in the Jenin and Tulkarem refugee camps. In a separate incident in al-Aroub, south of the West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society stated that Israeli forces killed a 27-year-old man named Mohammed Amjad Hadoush.

Last month, the Israeli military launched a major offensive called “Iron Wall” in the West Bank, primarily targeting Palestinian armed groups from the Jenin area, shortly after they began a ceasefire with Hamas, a Palestinian group in Gaza, on January 19. Sunday's explosions marked an escalation as Israel increasingly carries out indiscriminate attacks on Palestinian infrastructure. "The sounds were terrifying," Jenin resident Hanna Hajj Hassan told Al Jazeera by phone about the explosions.

Hassan said that she and other Jenin residents have been facing attacks for the past two weeks. She also said that a curfew is currently in place and shops and other businesses are closed. Wissam Baker, the director of the Jenin Government Hospital, told WAFA that parts of the hospital were damaged by the explosions, but no casualties were reported. The agency stated that many families are now displaced due to the demolitions. Another Jenin resident, Ahmed Tobasi, said that homes in the Jenin refugee camp are "no longer fit for living" due to the Israeli destruction of infrastructure.

“The Israeli army doesn't need any pretext to destroy our homes and displace us,” said the man, who has lived in Jenin his entire life, told Al Jazeera. “This is a very long, old plan of the Israeli army, particularly against the [refugee] camps, because they want to kill and make the Palestinian issue disappear.” He added: “So it’s not about terrorism; these are normal homes, places where people live – and when you talk about one house, it’s not actually one family living there. In Jenin refugee camp, you will find three or four families living in one house.”

Shortly before the explosions, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Sunday that a 73-year-old man was shot and killed by Israeli fire in the Jenin refugee camp, the latest casualty in the Israeli raids. Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said: “The Israeli army has set up multiple roadblocks and other checkpoints in the occupied West Bank, where at least 27 Palestinians have been killed.” “Many of them are civilians, including a two-year-old girl who was shot in the head while eating with her family at home, and a 73-year-old man who was shot by Israeli forces this morning.”

Witnesses reported that on Sunday morning, Israeli forces conducted a large-scale deployment around the towns of Tubas and Tammun, southeast of Jenin. The military said earlier on Sunday that “tactical teams” had begun operations around Tammun and had found weapons. It added that it was expanding “counter-terror” operations to five villages. It also distributed leaflets in Arabic stating that the operation aimed to “uproot armed criminals, the pawns of Iran.” The Israeli government has accused Iran of attempting to send weapons and funds to Palestinian armed groups in the occupied West Bank, and Iran supports armed groups in the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza.

Israel’s operations in Jenin have also displaced approximately 15,000 Palestinians. Also on Sunday, according to WAFA, Israeli settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, attacked a cemetery in the town of Silwan, south of the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem. The Palestinian news agency quoted local sources as saying that the settlers cut the fences that residents had put up around the cemetery and took control of the site. Meanwhile, Palestinian media reported that a mosque in the Bedouin village of Arab al-Mulaihat, northwest of Jericho, was set on fire by Israeli settlers overnight.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks. Since the outbreak of the Gaza war in 2023, violence by Israeli settlers and soldiers against Palestinians has surged in the occupied West Bank. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 882 Palestinians have been killed by soldiers or settlers since the start of the war. The settlements are illegal under international law, but they continue to expand in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem with the full support of the Israeli government.