West Bank official warns of risk of Gaza ‘genocide’ repeated in Jenin
Jenin Deputy Governor Mansour al-Saadi said Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the refugee camp could be a “repetition of what happened in the northern Gaza Strip, a systematic campaign of extermination”.
Speaking to the Anadolu news agency, al-Saadi said Israeli forces have blockaded the four entrances to the city of Jenin and the camp, preventing entry and exit.
He warned that the ongoing demolition of buildings and houses in the centre of the camp indicates that Israeli forces plan to carry out a large-scale invasion.
Palestinians in occupied West Bank fear Israel will do ‘just as they did in Gaza'
In their thousands, Palestinians have been forced to leave their homes in the Jenin refugee camp. The Israeli military is intensifying its large-scale operation and its repercussions are being felt across the occupied West Bank. People here say Israeli forces want to raze these Palestinian towns to the ground just as they did in Gaza.
Israel denies issuing any forced evacuation orders. The Israeli military maintains that it is targeting the Jenin Battalion – an umbrella group of fighters from Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Fatah. But Palestinians here say the soldiers’ goal is clear: To instil fear and intimidation among the population.
Since the war on Gaza began in October 2023, Israeli forces have increased the size and frequency of their raids in the occupied West Bank, killing nearly 900 Palestinians and injuring thousands more.
Israel says eliminating armed Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank is part of its over-arching goals for the war on Gaza. But UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese warns that Israel’s genocide won’t be confined to Gaza if this military offensive doesn’t end.
Netanyahu follows in Ariel Sharon’s footsteps from Jenin to Jabalia – Marwan Bishara
Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara has said the Israeli government is shifting its focus to the occupied West Bank, as a temporary ceasefire takes hold in Gaza.
Bishara emphasised that while Gaza has posed a strategic challenge for Israel, the West Bank represents a strategic reward.
Bishara suggests that operations in Jenin and the broader West Bank serve as a deflection from the Israeli government’s failures of October 7 and create an opportunity for Israel to advance annexation policies, particularly under a Trump administration more tolerant of such actions.
Qatar condemns Israeli attack, killing of civilians in Jenin
Qatar has expressed its “strong condemnation and denunciation” of Israel’s attack on Jenin in the occupied West Bank and the killing of civilians there, describing the violence as a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and human rights”.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also called on the international community “to assume its responsibilities in confronting these violations, and to work to ensure the full protection of civilians in accordance with the provisions of international law and relevant agreements”.
“The Ministry reiterates the State of Qatar’s firm position on the justice of the Palestinian cause, and the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, including the establishment of their independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” it added.
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