Palestinians and Israelis have barely had time to process the end of a ruinous 15-month war before Israel launched a ‘major counter-terrorism’ operation in the West Bank. Bel Trew reports from Jenin where families are fleeing their homes as the bullets and bombs rain down, sparking fears of a new conflict threatening peace.
![[Smoke rises on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday 24 January 2025]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/24/11/11849460.jpg)
Behind them, Palestinian families carry their children and suitcases along the dirt road bulldozed by the Israeli military in their operation they say is against militants in the occupied West Bank city. Among them is eight-year-old Asmaa, in a pink jumper, clutching a baby goat she says her family rescued on their way out. A little ahead is Lutifyeh, a mother-of-12 in her sixties, who says they all fled after Israeli drones fitted with speakers that morning ordered them to leave immediately.
![[Loay Taym, the mayor of Funduq, stands in the remains of a garden centre torched by Israeli settlers]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/25/08/0P4A8235.jpg)
“The refugee camp is empty. We have no place to go. There was bombing and bulldozers as we came out,” Lutifyeh says, in tears. “My family has been here since 1948, for 70 years. We have no place but this house. Where shall we go? There is nothing there.
![[Families fleeing Jenin via a dirt road chewed up by bulldozers]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/25/08/0P4A8173.jpg)
Families in Gaza and those of the hostages from Israel celebrated a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group, hoping it would herald an end to a ruinous 15-month conflict, the return of hostages and detainees, and maybe even usher in a permanent peace.
![[Saddam leaves Jenin with his four children]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/25/08/0P4A8186.jpg)
But just three days into the agreement, Israel announced the start of a “major counter-terrorism” operation in northern parts of the occupied West Bank. The focus is Jenin and its refugee camp, which has increasingly become a stronghold for Palestinian militants loyal to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad but is also home to thousands of civilians.
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