Residents in Jenin camp became destitute and homeless again due to the 10-day raid by the Israeli military as it carried out a massive offensive across the occupied West Bank.
Among those displaced by the devastating attack are Khalid and his families. Now they can only temporarily stay at relatives' homes and rummage through the rubble of destroyed buildings to find some articles for daily use.
Khalid is perplexed about how to rebuild his house and how his family will live in the future.
"I've lived here for 40 years. My children were born in this house when I was 25, and I've watched them raise their own families here ever since. Then I built the house room by room because we couldn't afford to build it all at once. Over the years, I built a room every year until I had five to six rooms. This is the place where my children and I lived, and where they spent all their childhoods. But in an instant, everything was gone, leaving nothing but this ruin," he said.
Jenin camp borders the Jenin municipality and is the northernmost camp in the West Bank.
It was established in 1953 to house Palestinians displaced by the First Middle East War, covering an area of less than 0.5 square kilometers in the western suburbs of Jenin. A large number of refugees from all over Palestine have lived here since then.
In 2002, the Israeli military occupied the camp after 10 days of intensive fighting, destroying hundreds of houses and displacing more than a quarter of the camp's population.
Since then, Israel has launched military strikes on the refugee camp almost at regular intervals.
Because the vision of "land for peace" in the Oslo Accords has never been implemented, Israel has imposed a long-term blockade on the West Bank and has continuously strengthened its military control.
The Palestinian people's rights have not been realized, and local economic and social development has lagged behind for a long time, resulting in continuous conflicts and confrontations between Palestine and Israel here.
"We love peace. No one doesn't like a peaceful life. But on the other hand, Israel does not want peace. It is Israel that does not want peace. It has been committed to escalating conflicts, aggression and destruction. It does not recognize any international laws, regulations or international legitimacy. All its aggressive actions are allowed," Khalid said.
"The United States fully supports and assists Israel. Without the United States, the current situation in Gaza would not have come to this, and the Gaza Strip would not have been destroyed. I experienced the massive assault here by the Israeli army in April 2002. Now, more than 20 years later, we are back to the scene at that time. And this situation will continue. We are still living under Israeli occupation, so we must persist in resistance until Israel leaves our land," he said.
The Israeli army began the large-scale military operation in the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Tubas camps in the northern West Bank on Aug 28, according to Palestinian and Israeli sources. This military operation is considered by Palestinians as the largest since 2002 and a continuation of the conflict in Gaza Strip.
Jenin residents displaced again after 10-day Israeli military operation
