Jenin Governmental Hospital on Wednesday remained under siege, with snipers deployed in places close to the hospital, causing a major shortage of medical supplies.
The death toll in the occupied West Bank town and refugee camp of Jenin has risen to eight, as Israeli forces continued its siege for a second consecutive day, deploying snipers at one of its hospitals and cutting off water to another.
Jihad Talib Abu Hamed was shot by an Israeli sniper, according to the official Resistance News Network (RNN). Israeli forces then prevented ambulances from reaching him for hours, as he lay bleeding.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said late on Tuesday that it “managed to reach” Abu Hamed in the Al Hadaf area in the Jenin refugee camp.
According to the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, Israeli forces shot at the ambulance with live ammunition, causing damage to the vehicle.
The Palestine Red Crescent teams managed to reach a martyr in the Al-Hadaf area in the #Jenin refugee camp, and he is currently being transported to the hospital.#WestBank
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) May 21, 2024
Seven other Palestinians were killed on Tuesday, including a doctor, teacher and two youths, and at least 21 others injured.
Dr Osayd Kamal Jabareen, the Head of the Surgery Department at Jenin Governmental Hospital, was killed in the vicinity of the hospital, according to the official news agency, WAFA, as well as RNN.
A school teacher, Allam Jaradat, 48, was shot and killed whilst in his vehicle on his way to work. Images shared on the RNN network showed a blood-splattered seat of Jaradat’s vehicle.
Two youths, Mahmoud Amjad Hamdneh, 15, and Osama Mohammed, 16, were also shot and killed. The other slain Palestinian sare Muammar Mohammad Abu Omeira, 50, Amir Issam Abu Omeria, 22, and Bassem Mahmoud Turkman, 53.
West Bank Escalation – Israeli Forces Storm Jenin, Kill Seven Palestinians
Hospital Besieged
Jenin Governmental Hospital on Wednesday remained under siege, with snipers deployed in places close to the hospital, causing a major shortage of medical supplies, WAFA reported.
The director of the Martyr Khalil Suleiman Hospital, Wissam Bakr, said that there was an acute water shortage after the water line connected to the hospital was destroyed. At the same time, Israeli forces continued to fire at its entrance.
The Israeli military also continued to send more troops into several neighborhoods in the city and inside the camp, as drones flew overhead, said WAFA.
On the cusp of a major invasion of Rafah in the besieged Gaza Strip, the Israeli military has set its sights on the Jenin refugee camp and its armed resistance groups.
Read the latest analysis by Robert Inlakesh.https://t.co/Ik8DTBBy2r pic.twitter.com/1OoGCrgfa1
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 22, 2024
Homes Raided
On Wednesday morning, Israeli forces raided dozens of homes in the camp, resulting in the arrest of several Palestinians.
They also continue to obstruct the work of ambulances in Jenin, with footage shared on the Quds News Network showing the vehicles stopped and its occupants searched.
Israeli bulldozers destroyed infrastructure causing a power and communications outage, reported WAFA.
Bulldozers also destroyed the Martyr George Habash and Martyr Omar Al-Nayef roundabouts in the vicinity of the city center, as resistance forces clashed with invading forces.
Fierce armed clashes are ongoing for the second day between the Palestinian resistance and the invading Israeli forces in #Jenin. Sounds of gunfire are continuously heard across the camp.
FOLLOW OUR LIVE BLOG https://t.co/iCrLh1TD27 pic.twitter.com/Jsspaz9vjC
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 22, 2024
Footage shared on the RNN channel documented the destruction caused to roads, homes and other infrastructure in the area.
The Jenin Brigade of the Saraya Al-Quds Resistance Movement said its fighters targeted an Israeli force at the Al-Hamamah roundabout with heavy barrages of bullets.
According to RNN, a military vehicle was targeted by an explosive device at the Muqeibla crossing, northeast of Jenin on Tuesday evening.
‘Desperate Attempt’ – Hamas
The Israeli military on Tuesday also demolished the home of Ahmed Barakat (Abu Al-Hani), a resistance fighter who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the town in March this year.
Barakat’s mother told WAFA that the bulldozers destroyed and demolished their 280 square meters two-storey home, without any prior notice.
The Palestinian Resistance Movement, Hamas, said in a statement on Tuesday that the “massacre in Jenin camp this morning… is a desperate attempt by the occupation to deter our heroic people and valiant resistance.”
“This continues the series of the occupation’s crimes of killing, siege, and starvation in Rafah, Jabalia, and various areas of the Gaza Strip.”
Israeli forces have shot and killed seven Palestinians, including a doctor, a teacher and two youths, during a raid on the town of Jenin and its refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.https://t.co/I34DgN04SJ pic.twitter.com/b4OBjkY4vq
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 21, 2024
Land razed in Sheikh Jarrah
In the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in the center of occupied Jerusalem, Israeli forces razed a plot of Palestinian land. According to WAFA, this was in preparation for a celebration by Jewish settlers of the so-called “Feast of the Torch” early next week.
Israeli forces, accompanied by bulldozers, reportedly made their way into the neighborhood, where they razed the land and then erected large platforms with sound and lighting devices.
The forces severely restricted the movement of the neighborhood’s residents.
The neighborhood will reportedly be completely closed off from Saturday evening for period of 48 hours until Monday afternoon.
(PC, WAFA)
I am reminded of a passage from one of my all-time favourite novels, JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: ” There they picked up the trail of the Orcs. It needed little skill to find. ‘No other folk make such a trampling,’ said Legolas. ‘It seems their delight to slash and beat down growing things that are not even in their way.’ ” Legolas is talking about the Orcs.