ISRAELI occupation forces (IOF) continued their assault on the city of Jenin and its refugee camp for the 97th consecutive day on Sunday, carrying out raids, incursions, arrests and forced evacuations of homes.
The Jenin Media Committee reported that Israeli forces raised the Israeli flag on the Nagnaghiya family’s building at the southern entrance of Jenin Camp.
In a press statement, the committee explained that the IOF raided more than 17 homes and buildings in the Al-Zahraa neighbourhood and around the government hospital in Jenin City, forcing residents to evacuate them by force.
In recent days, the Israeli army has also deployed military reinforcements and set up iron gates at the entrances of Jenin Camp, aiming to isolate the camp and tighten the noose around its residents.
So far, the IOF assault on Jenin and its camp has resulted in the martyrdom of 40 citizens, the displacement of 21,000 people, and the destruction of 3,250 housing units either completely, partially, or by arson. Additionally, 93 residential buildings, comprising around 300 housing units, are slated for demolition by the IOF.
Since the beginning of the widescale aggression, Jenin and its camp have witnessed 318 arrests, in addition to dozens subjected to field interrogations.
The committee called for urgent intervention to rescue the citizens from the ongoing suffering caused by the continuous aggression, stressing the need to support the people, strengthen their resilience, and provide their immediate needs.
Meanwhile, the Hamas Movement has strongly denounced the US administration’s decision to strip UNRWA of its legal immunity, saying such a step highlights once again a continued bias in favour of the Israeli occupation’s policies and its relentless efforts to dismantle the UN agency.
‘UNRWA stands as a profound political and humanitarian emblem, representing the inalienable rights of Palestinian refugees, including their right to receive relief assistance and their right to return to their hometowns from which they were forcibly evicted,’ Hamas said in a statement on Saturday.
Describing the measure against UNRWA as ‘grave’, Hamas called on the US administration to reverse it immediately, and urged the international community to condemn and confront it.
According to a document filed in a federal court in New York at the behest of president Donald Trump last Thursday, the US department of justice said that UNRWA is not entitled to immunity from lawsuits in the United States.
Meanwhile, in a press statement on Saturday, Hamas warned of the catastrophic consequences of the comprehensive closure imposed by the occupation army on the Gaza Strip, and its prevention of the entry of basic necessities such as food, water, medicine, and fuel – threatening the lives of more than 2.25 million people living under constant bombardment, massacres and a war of extermination.
Hamas said: ‘The use of starvation as a weapon by the war criminal Netanyahu’s government, and its deliberate targeting of water stations and food distribution centres, represents one of the most heinous forms of violations of international law and humanitarian norms. It demands a clear condemnation from the international community and effective steps to hold the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity accountable.’
Hamas called on the international community, in all its institutions and bodies, to act urgently to stop the crime of mass starvation, end the complete siege imposed on Gaza for nearly two months, and immediately secure the entry of food and medical aid.
It also urged Arab and Islamic countries – governments, peoples, parties, unions, and organisations – to shoulder their historical responsibilities, break their silence, act to break the unjust siege, and ‘deliver all the necessary life-sustaining materials to our people, forming a support front to strengthen their resilience in the face of aggression and criminal displacement plans’.
There must now be mass actions by the workers of the UK, EU, and the USA in support of Palestine. The Hamas Movement said that the World Food Programme’s announcement of the exhaustion of all its food supplies in the Gaza Strip reflects the dangerous level reached by the humanitarian catastrophe created by the fascist Israeli occupation. The people of Gaza have entered the stage of actual famine. Now is the time for action!
