Hundreds flee Jenin amid Israel’s deepening West Bank crackdown
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Israeli assault enters its third day as army says it is targeting militants to prevent them ‘from regrouping’. Hundreds of people have fled the Jenin refugee camp and surrounding areas as an Israeli assault on the West Bank city enters its third day, amid a deepening crackdown across the occupied Palestinian territory.
![[An Israeli border police member, holding a rifle, leans out of a military vehicle]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b91de4923933fe16c44e91aed5d6e09ea8aa78a8/0_55_2673_1604/master/2673.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“Most of the camp’s residents were forced out, and I was made to leave my neighbourhood,” said 65-year-old Saleh Ammar, who fled the Jouret al-Dhahab neighbourhood inside the camp. “I saw with my own eyes the 12 large bulldozers they brought in: if they wanted to destroy an entire city, they could have done so.”.
![[Israeli soldiers walk ahead of women and young girls]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/2d0190a61808ddbb4cdccbf13588640bf2a7f873/0_217_3310_1985/master/3310.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Israeli officials have labelled the latest escalation in the West Bank, codenamed Iron Wall, which began just days after a ceasefire in Gaza came into effect, as part of a shift in the aims of the war that began in October 2023, after an attack by Palestinian militants on Israeli towns and kibbutzim around the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said it was operating in Jenin to target Palestinian militants in the refugee camp, with the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson, Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, telling reporters in a briefing that the operation was intended to prevent militants “from regrouping”, and attacking Israeli civilians.
Ammar accused forces affiliated to the Palestinian Authority of shooting at residents of the refugee camp before Israeli forces entered, to assist their assault. The PA launched its own assault on the camp in December, intended to target militias that oppose its rule.
