Israel destroys neighbourhood in Jenin refugee camp, damaging hospital

Israel has continued large-scale operations in the occupied West Bank, heavily bombing the Jenin refugee camp and destroying residential buildings. Videos posted by local residents on social media show large areas of the refugee camp razed to the ground. Wafa news agency reported that Israeli forces used explosives to destroy nearly 20 buildings on the eastern side of the refugee camp.

Wissam Baker, director of the main government hospital in Jenin, told Wafa that the explosions damaged parts of the hospital. As of now, there have been no reports of casualties. Earlier, Wafa reported that a 73-year-old Palestinian man was shot dead in Jenin earlier on Sunday. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that its staff found the body of Waleed Lalo at the entrance to the refugee camp and transported it to the hospital.

Lalo's death brings the total number of Palestinians killed since Israel launched a military assault on Jenin 13 days ago to 25. According to Wafa, Israeli bulldozers have razed about 100 homes in the refugee camp, and local hospitals are facing a severe water shortage after Israeli forces damaged pipelines. Approximately 35% of the city's population has no access to water.

Since the start of the Gaza war on October 7, 2023, attacks by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank have increased dramatically, resulting in hundreds of deaths. In the early hours of Sunday, Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque in the Arab Mleihat community northwest of Jericho in the occupied West Bank. Hassan Mleihat, head of Al-Baydar, a local Bedouin rights organization, told Wafa that the settlers poured flammable material inside the mosque before setting it on fire.

The fire destroyed everything inside the mosque, including copies of the Quran, and firefighting efforts were unsuccessful. Community official Suleiman Mleihat told Middle East Eye that four settlers infiltrated the area between Ramallah and Jericho at dawn from their recently established pastoral settlement outpost. The fire also affected the property of residents near the mosque. Settlers often use grazing as a pretext to carry out attacks on community residents, including stealing and damaging their property, or directly attacking them.

"Settlers periodically poison livestock raised by Palestinians here, or deliberately trample them, knowing that livestock are our main source of livelihood," Mleihat added. Settlers also do not hesitate to shoot livestock grazing near the community and have closed all pastures, preventing Palestinians from accessing them. "We demand protection for community residents and the rest of the Bedouin communities suffering unprecedented attacks by settlers, whose aim is to seize land," he said. The fire reportedly engulfed the entire building, completely destroying it. Wafa added that the group also set fire to a tractor.

These actions coincide with the Israeli parliament voting on a draft law allowing settlers to own and purchase land in the West Bank, which has accelerated the pace of settlement at an unprecedented rate. During the Gaza war, settlers established seven new settlement outposts in Area B of the West Bank, which Palestinians see as a dangerous escalation that will lead to more land being taken. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday that "settler militias and their terrorists" are increasingly attacking Palestinian citizens and their property. In a statement, it condemned the "aggression of the occupation and its settlers" in the occupied West Bank and called for international intervention.

"The Ministry is deeply concerned about the colonial projects that fuel this ongoing aggression and holds the Israeli government fully and directly responsible for its impact on efforts to establish calm, a ceasefire, and an end to the cycle of war," it said.