Jenin refugee camp uninhabitable after Israeli military operation, says mayor

All 3,250 residential units in the Jenin refugee camp are now uninhabitable after being completely or partially destroyed or burned during the ongoing Israeli military operation that began on 21 January, the city’s Mayor, Mohammad Jarrar, said on Wednesday.

“The situation in the Jenin camp is extremely catastrophic,” added Jarrar. “Israeli bulldozers continue to operate, demolishing, blowing up and burning Palestinian homes.”

The mayor explained that Israel rejected a petition submitted by Palestinian authorities against Israeli army plans to demolish 93 residential buildings, noting that the demolition might take place at any moment. According to the official, the buildings include “around 300 housing units, and if the demolition decision is implemented, we will be facing an even greater disaster in the camp.”

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The refugee camp, he continued, is completely uninhabitable. “We need real reconstruction. Jenin and its camp have been subjected to several Israeli operations over the years.” A specialist committee estimated that the losses incurred by Jenin city and its refugee camp as a result of the ongoing Israeli military operation stand at approximately $310 million.

Jarrar also noted that the Israeli occupation army had forced more than a thousand Palestinians to leave their homes in the districts surrounding the camp, in addition to hundreds of families who have left their homes near the camp, fearing for their safety and that of their children.

Israel has continued its military aggression against the Jenin and Tulkarm governorates in the north of the occupied West Bank since 21 January, accompanied by “systematic arrests and field investigations targeting dozens of families, in addition to converting homes into military barracks.”

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