Palestinians in the occupied West Bank observed a day of general strike on Tuesday, July 4, against the ongoing military attacks and seizures being carried out by the Israeli occupation forces in Jenin’s refugee camp. At least 10 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds injured and displaced since the Israeli forces started a full-fledged military invasion on Monday.
The Israeli forces attacked the Jenin refugee camp with air and drone strikes and indiscriminately used missiles, snipers, and armored vehicles inside the densely populated area.
According to a Wafa report, Israeli forces also fired teargas inside a Palestinian hospital in Jenin on Tuesday, deliberately suffocating several patients and their family members. On Monday, Israeli forces were recorded deliberately shooting at journalists.
Watch carefully how #Israeli soldiers directly, deliberately & surgically shoot at journalists’ cameras in Jenin!
The soldier opens the vehicle’s door, proving he’s under ZERO danger, then takes potshots at the camera until it’s fully destroyed!
9 people killed, 50 wounded… pic.twitter.com/Lek7AUQI36
— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) July 3, 2023
The report stated that hundreds of Israeli soldiers are participating in the so-called raid. According to Times of Israel, this is the largest military campaign undertaken by the occupation forces inside the occupied West Bank since 2002.
In the early morning hours of Monday, 3 July 2023, Zionist forces began invading and assaulting Jenin city & refugee camp with a massive military presence of 1,000 soldiers and at least 150 armored Caterpillar bulldozers, armed aerial drones, military vehicles and fighter planes pic.twitter.com/Lg19QgFctZ
— Samidoun Network (@SamidounPP) July 3, 2023
Palestinians have condemned the attack and have been protesting across the occupied territories. Hundreds of Palestinians participated in protests in different places including Beit Lahm, Al-Khalil, Ramallah, Ariha, Nablus, Qalqilya, and Bethlehem. Protesters shouted slogans against the occupation and called for popular confrontation against the Israeli forces.
Palestinians gearing for large-scale resistance
Reports of Palestinians challenging the occupation forces with whatever means available are coming from several places. For example, according to Al-Mayadeen, in Ishawiya in the occupied East Jerusalem, Palestinian threw firecrackers on the occupation forces.
Fearing greater resistance, the occupation forces have seized several other refugee camps in the occupied territories. They have blocked the entrance of the Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah and Beita town after residents confronted them.
Meanwhile, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Hamas, and the Islamic Jihad have announced that their cadre are ready to take up arms and fight against the Israeli military if the operation in Jenin continues.
Attacks on residential areas have displaced hundreds of Palestinians and forced them to live in temporary camps set up by the Palestinian Authority. The forced exodus of Palestinians from Jenin has invited comparisons with the 1948 Nakba and “ethnic cleansing.”
Video footage from Jenin camp showed hundreds of Palestinian refugees fleeing the Israeli violence on foot out of fear for their lives. Israeli soldiers were documented tear-gassing civilians as they fled. Ethnic cleansing is happening before our very eyes amidst global silence. pic.twitter.com/5ml7KRw931
— Mondoweiss (@Mondoweiss) July 3, 2023
Despite widespread condemnation from Palestinians and from across the world, Israeli occupation forces have refused to end the offensive. Times of Israel quoted the head of the Israeli forces’ central command, Yehuda Fox, as saying that the Jenin invasion is not a one-off operation. Fox said, “there is a series of operations here, just like we were here a week ago and two weeks ago,” and ”we will come back in a few days or a week.”
Israeli occupation forces have killed more than 150 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2023. More than a dozen Palestinians were killed in Israeli air raids inside the occupied Gaza strip in May.
