Watch video: Residents about Israeli army in Jenin – “They took us as human shields”.
Drone footage Wednesday gives a glimpse of the damage done to the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank after the Israeli army’s two-day operation. Houses in commercial and residential areas were partly in ruins. Electricity and water supplies to the camp and some parts of the city remained cut off. Earlier, Israeli army bulldozers had torn up roads. In search of hidden explosive devices. It was one of the largest Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank in years. Twelve Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed and around 100 people were injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported evacuating 500 families from the camp. This man made serious accusations against the Israeli army: “We were surprised by a large number of army personnel, they entered the area, they entered the houses of our neighbors and our house, they drove people out of their houses and put the Snipers came in. They arrested many youths and took us away as human shields. They shot us with heavy weapons. It was fierce.” According to information from military circles, the Israeli army had begun withdrawing from Jenin on Tuesday evening. The deployment with hundreds of soldiers and combat drones in the occupied West Bank began on Monday. It was the heaviest fighting in Jenin for more than two decades. According to Israeli statements, the military operation was directed against militant Palestinian groups who had used the refugee camp as a retreat and prepared attacks from there.