Inside the sealed-off Jenin refugee camp targeted by IDF

Department of International Relations and Strategic Studies 30-08-2024

The messages come through on the Israeli phone network – scraps of information from inside Jenin’s refugee camp.

“I don’t dare go on the roof, in case I’m shot,” one resident says, speaking anonymously.

Information inside the camp is scarce, he says, and the streets are empty, as residents stay inside.

“It’s mostly old people and children here,” he tells me. “The young people left before the army arrived – it’s bad luck for those who can’t get out.”

Jenin, the focus of news networks today, has been living through a news blackout.

The Palestinian phone network was down for much of the day – lines cut by the Israeli military operation here, the telecoms company said.

The resident I speak to says his family still has water and electricity, and that a small shop nearby was open and selling supplies, under the constant buzz of military drones.

As we talk, a few scattered gunshots reverberate over the rooftops from the direction of the camp.

Jenin camp is a base for armed Palestinian fighters, but also unarmed civilians. There have been fierce gun battles here in recent months, as Israeli forces have raided, again and again, looking for them.

Army vehicles are also stationed around two of Jenin’s main hospitals.

Ambulances are stopped as they approach – approaching and reversing in response to terse instructions broadcast in Arabic from loudspeakers on the army Jeeps.

We watched paramedics get out to open the back doors of their ambulance, to show what – or who – was inside. Two female patients were also made to get out and present themselves to soldiers in the Jeeps.