Israeli forces besiege Jenin as West Bank raids intensify

Israeli soldiers have besieged the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, blocking off access to food, water, electricity and medical help in the camp, as raids around the West Bank enter their fifth day.

Israeli forces continued to raid homes and subject residents to interrogations on Sunday, with damage to critical infrastructure intensifying.

Palestinian homes in the Jabriyat neighbourhood of the Jenin camp were blown up late on Saturday, with the assaults making it difficult for paramedics to reach the site.

The raids have also forced all nearby shops and business to close, making it more challenging for people to get access to essential food items.

The raids and violent attacks have occurred daily since they started on Wednesday and caused a fire to break out at a market in Jenin on Sunday.

According to Jenin’s municipality, Israeli forces have bulldozed around 70 percent of streets there, as well as its water and sewage networks.

The municipality added that around 80 percent of the refugee camp has also been left without any access to water.

Dozens of families have been forcibly displaced from their homes in Jenin because of the offensive and bulldozing activity.

Other cities including Tulkarem and Tubas have also been attacked by drones and houses destroyed with bulldozers, in what has been described as the largest operation in the West Bank since 2002.

Palestinians in the West Bank city of Ramallah gathered in the streets in the early hours of Sunday to denounce Israel’s large scale military assaults in Jenin and other cities.

Violent raids

The violent raids have been condemned internationally, including by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) who denounced Israeli forces for their "unlawful force" and called for an "immediate end" to the current attack in Jenin refugee camp.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Saturday that Israeli forces shot dead an elderly Palestinian man in his 80s outside of his home in Jenin, identifying him as Tawfiq Ahmed Younes Qandil.

The Israeli army have said they are carrying out "counterterrorism" operations and claim they are digging up roads and homes because explosive charges are in them, however, Palestinians maintain that it is an attempt to push Palestinians out of their homes.

The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called on Israel to immediately halt its operation, saying it was "fuelling an already explosive situation".

He also urged Israeli forces to "exercise maximum restraint and use lethal force only when it is strictly unavoidable".

Since the start of the war on Gaza, at least 637 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers, the UN said on Wednesday, with over 10,000 others detained.