Doctor, teacher and children killed by Israel in Jenin
Tamara Nassar, Electronic Intifada, May 23 2024
A deadly Israeli raid into Jenin and its refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank entered its third day on Thursday. Twelve Palestinians, including a doctor, a schoolteacher and at least four children, have been killed by Israel during the incursion. Israeli fire has wounded at least 25 Palestinians, with some sustaining severe injuries. Undercover Israeli agents, so-called mistaravim, infiltrated the city of Jenin before their unit was exposed, prompting armed Palestinians to exchange fire with them. Mistaravim usually dress up as Palestinians to abduct, injure and infiltrate groups of civilians. Israel has even used mistaravim to kidnap and kill Palestinians inside hospitals.
The Jenin Brigade, a group associated with Saraya al-Quds, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, said its fighters have been resisting the Israeli incursion into the Jenin refugee camp and surrounding areas, confronting the occupying forces with gunfire. The group announced that it detonated explosive devices aimed at Israeli armored vehicles and infantry troops both within and on the outskirts of the refugee camp. It claimed to have directly inflicted casualties among the ranks of the occupation forces and damaged their vehicles. This was corroborated by media reports. Israeli forces fatally shot a surgeon, Osayd Kamal Jabareen, while he was en route to work at the Jenin governmental hospital. Jabareen, aged 50, had spent many years working for the health service. The Palestinian Authority’s health ministry said:
The deliberate killing of the doctor by the occupying forces compounds the ongoing series of daily crimes and assaults on the Palestinian healthcare sector in all its facets across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Local media circulated Jabareen’s picture following his killing:
Israeli fire also killed Allam Ziyad Jaradat, a schoolteacher from al-Sila al-Harithiya town west of Jenin. He was a former prisoner.
Mahmoud Amjad Ismail Hamadneh, 15, was shot by an Israeli sniper in the head, chest and foot while returning home from school on an electric bicycle, Defense for Children International Palestine said. The teenager’s friend Karam was riding another electric bike and was injured by a bullet in the shoulder. Karam was transferred to hospital. An Israeli sniper also shot and killed 15-year-old Osama Muhammad Hujair on Tuesday morning while he was riding a motorcycle. He was struck by two bullets, one in the head and the other in the hand. “Israeli forces and settlers have killed 43 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2024,” DCIP said. A picture of a Palestinian boy who was fatally shot while riding his bike in Jenin on Tuesday morning was circulated by news media:
Israeli forces continued their relentless campaign of destroying infrastructure, as they had been doing systemically during military raids into Palestinian cities and refugee camps across the West Bank. They damaged and demolished roads, vegetable stands, commercial structures and civilian property, including vehicles, and converted numerous homes in both the city and its refugee camp into military positions.
The destruction of infrastructure led to widespread blackouts in electricity, communications and internet services across both the city and the camp. Video footage depicts Israeli military bulldozers dismantling road infrastructure in Jenin refugee camp and surrounding areas.
There has been a surge in armed resistance, particularly in specific areas and refugee camps in the northern occupied West Bank. One tactic involves planting makeshift explosive devices strategically under roads to thwart invading Israeli armored vehicles. This video depicts an Israeli bulldozer demolishing a roundabout:
Local media circulated pictures and footage of damage to residential homes and other infrastructure in the camp:
One video appears to show an armored vehicle getting towed from the Jenin refugee camp after sustaining damage.
Israeli forces raided homes in the refugee camp, arresting Palestinians, including 48-year-old Wafaa Jarrar from Jenin city, who is a candidate for the Palestinian Legislative Council elections.
Jarrar was wounded when the military vehicle that was carrying her drove over an explosive device, Haaretz reported. Israeli forces even besieged the Jenin governmental hospital and positioned snipers nearby. Video footage depicts Israeli forces obstructing Palestinian ambulances, preventing them from reaching their destinations.
Israeli drones hovered in the city’s sky. Israel’s military incursions into West Bank cities, towns and refugee camps have escalated in scale, intensity and lethality since Oct 7. The Israeli army has also been conducting aerial attacks in the West Bank, a practice it revived from the second intifada two decades ago. Israeli troops have killed more than 470 Palestinians in the West Bank since Oct 7. Additionally, Israeli settlers have killed at least 10 Palestinians, and another seven were killed by either Israeli army or settler fire, according to documentation by UN OCHA. Israeli forces have injured over 5k Palestinians in the West Bank since Oct 7, more than 30% of them by live ammunition. Gaza-based human rights organization Al Mezan said:
While Israel carries on with its genocide in Gaza, it continues undeterred to perpetrate its colonial violence in the occupied West Bank amidst the lack of any accountability.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention issued an “active genocide alert” over the situation for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, declaring:
Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians across Palestine.
Getting from A to B means risking your life in Gaza
Khaled al-Qersali, Khaled el-Hissi, Electronic Intifada, May 24 2024
Um Muhammad was in serious danger. In the early stages of the current war, she fled her home in Gaza City’s Beach refugee camp. At first, Um Muhammad, 40, took shelter in a local school. She and members of her extended family remained there for a number of days. When Israel’s shelling intensified, Um Muhammad took the difficult decision to leave the school. Along with her children, her sister and her brother-in-law, Um Muhammad headed toward Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. There, they also took shelter in a school. They stayed in Deir al-Balah for a long period. But on Apr 14, Um Muhammad and her daughters set out for Gaza City. Um Muhammad hoped that she could return to Beach camp. Early that morning, Um Muhammad heard a number of people speaking about those who had returned to Gaza City. She gathered her daughters and told them to get ready so that they could begin their journey. As they approached an Israeli military checkpoint, some women told Um Muhammad to remain as far away as possible from men who were trying to cross it. Israeli soldiers targeted Palestinian men, the women warned. A short while later, Um Muhammad heard a woman close to her screaming. The woman had been shot in the leg. She said:
I saw a young man lying on the ground. He had been shot dead.
Israeli soldiers opened fire on countless people seeking a return to their homes. Some were killed. Others were injured. Um Muhammad and her daughters ran. They kept running until they reached Nuseirat, another area in central Gaza. Their journey was full of fear. They were especially worried about Um Muhammad’s 17-year-old nephew as they were unsure of his whereabouts. After thinking he had been killed, it was a huge relief to know he was still alive. The boy was actually “trapped in a mosque with other men,” Um Muhammad said. The Israeli military besieged the mosque, surrounding it with two tanks. The boy was able to escape from the mosque through a window. Although Um Muhammad’s home in Beach refugee camp had been attacked by Israel, she is still determined to live in it. She said:
I have relatives and friends here, but I miss my house in the north. I miss my life.
Nevine, 28, had to leave Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza during the current war. First, she took shelter at a school in Gaza City. After Israeli soldiers besieged and then invaded the school, Nevine and her three children fled for Deir al-Balah. The journey was terrifying. Israeli soldiers were firing on people. Nevine and her children could see the Israelis flying American made warplanes overhead. Bombs were being dropped from the planes. Nevine made sure to hold her children’s hands throughout the journey. They could easily get lost amid the chaos, she felt. Her husband has remained in the northern part of Gaza. Being away from their father is heartbreaking for the children. Nevine recalled that “my eldest son Thaer cried his heart out when he spoke to his dad on the phone” during Eid al-Fitr. Her home in Beit Hanoun has been severely damaged but Nevine keeps thinking about returning to it.
Ahmad, 19, fled Gaza City in the early stages of the war. He first went to a school in Deir al-Balah. As the school was overcrowded, he moved into a tent. On Apr 14, Ahmad set out on a journey back to Gaza City. He recalled how people on the road raised their IDs and white flags. That did not prevent the Israeli soldiers from opening fire. “They even started shelling around us,” Ahmad said. Ahmad tried to help one person with head injuries. “I carried him and kept running until I found a cart,” Ahmad said. Ahmad tried to help another person with a leg wound by also placing him in a cart. Then some people that he knew shouted and told Ahmad that his cousin had been injured. “I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I ran, searching for my cousin.” Ahmad found his cousin, carried him and placed him, too, in the cart. Ahmad’s family home was destroyed by Israel during the war. So when he set out from Deir al-Balah, his aim was to reach his sister’s home in Gaza City. Israel’s extreme violence means that getting from A to B involves risking your life.
When will we see my dad again?
Alia Khaled Madi, Electronic Intifada, May 23 2024
I heard an explosion around 8 pm coming from the orange orchard near my home in Rafah, southern Gaza. The orchard is so near that I can see it from my bedroom window. The heat was suffocating that day and evening in late April. With no electricity, I cooled myself by lying down on the tile floor. I was lying there on the bare floor when I heard the approaching “whoosh” sound of the Israeli attack.
This was the closest that an explosion had ever gotten to our family home. Adrenaline rushed through my body and I prepared for the next bombardment as gunpowder filled the entire house. Such split seconds last for ages. We were all home – my mother, my four sisters and my little brother – but my father was at the hospital, working. Two days later, we would be forcibly displaced from Rafah to Egypt.
Staying in Gaza is a torment. Leaving Gaza is a torment. At the Rafah crossing, the officials checked our papers and we got on the bus that was to take us to the Egyptian side of the border. Baba (my father) was allowed on the bus to say goodbye to us. He wouldn’t be coming with us on this trip. We all held in tears until Nour, my youngest sister, started crying. Then, we were all crying, even Baba. I reassured Nour that Baba would join us soon.
We waited eight hours at the crossing, and the bus ride to Cairo took six hours. The next morning, the first thing we did was get Baba’s name on the approved travelers list. The officials said that we would have to wait three weeks for approval. Three weeks until our reunion. Now, since the beginning of May, three weeks has extended into who knows how long, as Israel seized control of the Rafah crossing and closed it. We are now in a state of uncertainty as to when we will see Baba again.
On arriving to any place outside of Gaza, one realizes how meaningless time is in Gaza, as we are besieged both physically and temporally by Israel. It is a complete shock when, after eight months of Israeli attacks, you arrive at a place that is full of life, that is quite normal. The place we are staying in Cairo is close to the airport. Even this was an adjustment: going from a place where planes mean death to a place where air travel is just a part of daily life. I still freeze, though, when I hear a plane in the sky, calculating the intensity and proximity of the next bombardment.
My entire family is finding it difficult to adjust to Egypt. After all, it is not our home. My mom, especially, spent the first week in utter despair. She, too, cannot fathom the ugliness of Gaza’s reality now, as Israeli soldiers roam the streets and kill and evict us from our land. On the phone with Baba in Rafah, when we can reach him, my words come out heavy. My mom complains about me not staying on the phone with him long enough, but words fail and suffocate me.
Though I do not fear sudden death as I did when we were home in Rafah, it is torture to witness this genocide from afar. What strength can come from watching your people die of hunger? From mass graves and ruined hospitals? Our lives are crushed under the weight of Israeli tanks. What is this beast that is gnawing at my people’s lives?
I am named after my grandmother Alia. My existence is a reflection of what I love and where I am from. There is nothing more human than having a family and a place to call home. I am a tale passed down from generation to generation. A mosaic of all the people and things that have touched my depths; I carry a piece of Gaza wherever I go.
Israel is making life hell for Gaza’s pregnant women
Areej Hijazi, Electronic Intifada, May 23 2024
Pregnant women in southern Gaza have only had access to three hospitals recently. Two are located in Rafah: al-Helal al-Emirati hospital and a field hospital run by the International Medical Corps. The third is Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, which has resumed some services after coming under a major Israeli attack.
When Israel invaded Rafah earlier this month, many medical staff evacuated, fearing for their lives. A very small number of doctors remained at al-Emirati hospital to deal with extremely critical cases. Other patients were transferred to the field hospital, which is located in another part of Rafah. On the first day of the invasion, 25 babies were born at the field hospital. It does not have the capacity to deal with that number of births. As Israeli troops had not yet reached the area surrounding al-Emirati hospital, some doctors returned to work there a few days after the invasion began. Yet the hospital continued to have fewer staff than previously.
There are many distressing stories to be told about its patients. Amal was brought to al-Emirati hospital in an ambulance after being rescued from under the rubble of a building that had been attacked. Fortunately, both she and the baby in her womb were unharmed. Her baby was nonetheless born prematurely following an emergency cesarean section. After leaving the hospital, she went to Khan Younis. She had to take shelter in a tent. Conditions are extremely harsh. Among other things, she has to wait in a long line so that she can use the bathroom.
Fidaa’s husband and son were killed in an Israeli airstrike on her home. Soon after that terrible crime, Fidaa – who was pregnant – was brought to al-Emirati hospital. I will never forget Fidaa. She was barefoot and her clothes were stained with blood. She was reluctant to stay in the maternity ward. Another one of her children had been severely injured and required surgery.
Eman has been married for 14 years but had not been able to conceive a child. After three attempts, she got pregnant through in vitro fertilization. Eman could no longer feel her baby moving in her womb, so we did an abdominal ultrasound at the hospital. I had the grim task of informing Eman that she had miscarried. I cannot forget the shock and sadness on her face. It was difficult for me to break the sad news. But I had to do it. The situation at al-Emirati hospital offers a vivid example of how healthcare facilities have been placed under unbearable strain by Israel’s war. The war must end.
Niqnaq 