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    Jenin’s Devastation: The Aftermath of a Deadly Israeli Military Operation

    World News 6 Mins Read

    In Jenin, the sounds of explosions have finally faded, but the silence that follows feels no less oppressive. What was once a town, already scarred from years of conflict, now bears fresh wounds—bullet-riddled walls, cratered streets, and shattered lives. The Israeli military has launched one of its largest operations in the West Bank in years, and its impact has been devastating. The death toll continues to rise, a grim reminder of how deeply the roots of this conflict run. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) call it an operation against terrorism, but for those living in Jenin and other battered towns like Tubas, it feels more like another chapter in a long and bitter history.

    At least 36 Palestinians have lost their lives. The Palestinian health ministry says most of them were militants, but children are also among the dead. Their names blur into the endless list of casualties from a war that seems to claim more lives than it ever saves. In the same breath, Israel mourns one of its own—an IDF soldier killed in the fighting. Both sides bury their dead, but the ground they fall on only grows more fractured with each passing day.

    Jenin, a town of roughly 60,000, became the epicenter of this latest storm. Its people have lived under the shadow of violence for years, the narrow streets etched with the scars of past confrontations. This time, though, the scale of the assault was overwhelming. Hundreds of troops poured into the city, their presence felt in the tremors of explosions and the whine of drones overhead. Civilians huddled in their homes, power and water cut, while outside, their world was being torn apart.

    For some, the destruction was deeply personal. Khalid abu Sabeer, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp, saw his home obliterated by an explosion. The IDF had targeted a cave beneath the building, empty for years, but they took the entire structure with it. Khalid speaks with the weary disbelief of a man who’s seen his home vanish in the blink of an eye. Others, like Mustafa Antir, describe the chaos that engulfed the camp, where explosions came from everywhere and nowhere, where the air was thick with gunfire, and the ground beneath their feet never felt stable.

    Jenin’s streets are a maze of history and destruction, layered with the echoes of battles past and present. Graffiti of M16 rifles and the word “Hamas” mark the walls, a declaration of resistance etched into stone. And now, fresh scars—a hole in the city center, a road torn apart, shops buried under rubble. But still, life insists on finding a way through the cracks. Residents slowly emerge, dazed but determined, stepping over debris to reopen market stalls, pushing carts full of fruits and vegetables, as if the everyday can somehow soften the weight of war.

    Dr. Wissam Bakr, the head of Jenin’s government hospital, stands at the heart of it all, overseeing a facility stretched to its limits. For days, they operated with only generators to power the equipment that kept newborns and elderly patients alive. In the midst of the chaos, the hospital became a fragile line between life and death, its walls shaking from the violence outside.

    But the sounds of the market have returned, at least for now. Cafés fill with old men and young boys, the routines of daily life resuming even as the dust of destruction still hangs in the air. Yet just around the corner, funeral processions wind through the streets. The dead are mourned, and the gunfire that echoes now is a tribute, not a battle cry. Among them, civilians like a 16-year-old girl, caught in the crossfire of a conflict she had no part in creating.

    Meanwhile, militants like Mohammed Zubeidi are carried through the streets as martyrs. Zubeidi, killed by an Israeli airstrike, wasn’t just any fighter—he was the son of Zakaria Zubeidi, a once-feared commander of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. The loss, for his community, is not just personal; it’s a reminder of a legacy of resistance and the unending cycle of violence.

    The IDF defends its actions, stating that it has dismantled weapons caches and taken down terrorists. They speak of success in neutralizing threats, in disarming explosive devices. But for the people of Jenin, these victories feel hollow. The debris remains, the bodies buried, the grief palpable.

    And so it goes. The West Bank, already fraught with tension, is once again the stage for a conflict that claims lives without ever resolving the pain beneath it. The violence has intensified since Hamas’s attack last October, and it shows no signs of slowing. The toll? Over 600 Palestinians dead, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Israel argues that these raids are meant to prevent further attacks on its people, but every bullet fired, every bomb dropped, widens the divide, leaving little room for hope.

    As the dust settles, the streets of Jenin whisper the same story they’ve been telling for years—of a people trapped in a conflict where survival is the only victory. And as much as life attempts to return to some semblance of normalcy, the specter of war lingers, just out of sight but never out of mind.

    Major Points

    • Israeli military operation in Jenin leaves at least 36 Palestinians dead, including children and militants.
    • An IDF soldier also killed, deepening the grief on both sides of the conflict.
    • Civilians endure destruction as homes and infrastructure are reduced to rubble amidst the fighting.
    • Jenin residents attempt to resume daily life, but the scars of violence remain stark and unresolved.
    • Israeli forces claim success in dismantling terrorist threats, while the Palestinian toll continues to rise.

    RM Tomi – Reprinted with permission of Whatfinger News

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