Rebuilding after Israel's siege of Jenin will take months, officials say

Army appeared to withdraw from three refugee camps in the occupied West Bank by early Friday following 10 days of military operations

Palestinians inspect the damage after a 10-day Israeli military operation near the West Bank city of Jenin. EPA

Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza

Israel's 10-day military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin has been an “earthquake” to Palestinians and rebuilding will take months, a senior official said on Friday. The army appeared to have withdrawn from three refugee camps in the occupied West Bank by Friday morning after a military operation that lasted more than a week and left a trail of destruction and dozens dead.

At least 39 Palestinians, including eight children and two elderly people, have been killed and around 150 others injured since the start of the Israeli operation on August 28, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Jenin’s mayor, Nidal Obeid, called the raid an “earthquake” in comments to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Israeli bulldozers destroyed more than 20km of the city’s road network, he said to the agency. Clearing the rubble will take only days, but repairs to the water and sewage networks damaged or destroyed by the Israeli army will take months, Mr Obeid said.

“What happened in Jenin comes within the policy of collective punishment of the Palestinians, and the extent of the destruction indicates that the occupation aims to deport the population as part of a declared policy”, he said. Troops had pulled out of the Tulkarem camp by Friday morning and had left Al Faraa earlier, but in a statement the Israeli military suggested that the operation wasn't yet over.

“Israeli security forces are continuing to act in order to achieve the objectives of the counterterrorism operation,” the military said in a statement. Israel's operations in the West Bank were aiming to target militants in the refugee camps in an attempt to curb recent attacks against Israeli civilians, it said.

It said such attacks have become more sophisticated and deadly since Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's attack on Israel nearly 11 months ago. Jenin’s governor, Kamal Abu Al Rub, said the damage to infrastructure was very severe. “We had numerous invasions in the past, but this invasion is the most destructive,” he said.

He said ambulances came under fire during the assault, with one doctor wounded. The economy in the camp, where unemployment already ran at 21 per cent, has been further wrecked, he said. It comes as two cities in the occupied West Bank held funerals on Friday after the lifting of an Israeli army siege, the Wafa news agency reported.

Mohammad Kanaan, 15, was buried after Friday prayers after he was killed on Tuesday by Israeli snipers. The Israeli army is still holding the bodies of two men from the same camp. In Jenin, at least 10 people were buried following a 10-day siege. Eight were killed in the refugee camp and two in the city.

Palestinians are able to leave their homes

Palestinians were able to leave their homes and inspect the wreckage left by Israeli forces after the assault, which left many people imprisoned in their homes without basic supplies. The scenes they were met with were horrific. Twisted rebar protruded from the concrete of collapsed buildings and the walls still standing were pockmarked with bullets and shrapnel.

Palestinians used bulldozers of their own to begin clearing the rubble on Friday after Israeli armoured vehicles left, according to AFP. Since the Gaza war began on October 7, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 661 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.