According to testimonies from Jenin, dozens of families evacuated their homes in the refugee camp on Monday night for fear of continued attacks and raids as part of the operation being conducted in Jenin.
Until late at night, parents and children continued to pour out into the streets, carrying bags and equipment, making their way to makeshift gathering points where they would sleep.
While the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that 500 families had left, other sources put the numbers at a lower number of several hundred people, and the official actual estimate has not yet been ascertained. The expectation is that at the end of the fighting, residents will return to their homes, but some have expressed concern that they will be destroyed or damaged in clashes and aerial bombardments.
Due to the power cuts and water disruptions caused during the military operation, some families sought a safe place and an alternative to provide services.
IDF forces operating deep inside Jenin, Photo: IDF Spokesperson
One resident said, "The electricity is gone, there's no water, and I'm a sick person." His wife, who was standing next to him, called for help, "There are small children here, no drinking, no water and no food can be made, we haven't been organized, we haven't been told anything, what can we do?"
Another resident spoke of the destruction in the camp following the military's activity to fight militants. "It's a bad situation, destroyed infrastructure in the neighborhood, I'm leaving the house now, I don't know where to go." Palestinian sources reported that "families were forced to evacuate due to threats that their homes would be attacked or exposed to damage and danger as part of Israel's attempt to reach militants."
Armed men in Jenin, photo: AP
Eyewitnesses said that through military announcements and phone calls, residents living in the vicinity of Hassan Square in Jenin were asked to evacuate. Some moved to hospital plazas and spent the night there, while others took up residence in the hall of City Hall. On the Palestinian side, they called for an end to the so-called "expulsion of residents of the Jenin refugee camp," describing it as "another crime that joins the Nakba in '48."
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