During the day, teams from the Jenin municipality and the Palestinian local administration entered the Jenin refugee camp to assess the damage caused by the end of the operation and the withdrawal of the military forces. Some of the hundreds of families who had been forced to evacuate their homes in the camp due to the attacks and fighting against the Palestinian militants gradually began to return.
Residents talk about destroyed infrastructure and damage to buildings in neighborhoods where airstrikes were carried out and exchanges of fire took place. Electricity and water have not yet resumed regular operations after the damage they sustained in the operation, forcing some to remain with relatives until the destruction is restored. "There is still no water, how do we prepare food? There are sick people who need to drink medicine," they said in Jenin.
A mighty tiara for infrastructure, the roads in Jenin, photo: Lilach Shoval
Palestinian residents outside the camp and a handful of curious people also visited the battle zone and came to be closely updated on what was happening the day after the operation. They made their way through sooty cars, broken windows and businesses, and piles of garbage and pieces of asphalt piled on destroyed roads.
The Jenin municipality says the restoration work will take some time until the destroyed houses, estimated at about 300, are rebuilt, in addition to other partially damaged structures.
Hundreds of destroyed houses, IDF in the streets of Jenin, photo: AP
According to Kamal Abu Rub, deputy governor of Jenin, beyond repairing the damage and repairing the destruction caused by the recent operation, there must be work for economic-social recovery and the creation of a political horizon that will bring good news to the residents of the camp and its environs. "We need to build hope for young people, both personally and politically, to see that they have something to aspire to. These are our children, flesh of our flesh. They want to see a future, people want to live. Without that, there would be no security," he told Israel Hayom.
"Jenin will continue to be a symbol of resistance. What did you achieve in the operation other than appeasing the settlers and the people of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich? Military operations in our cities will not bring Israelis security, do not delude yourselves. It will only increase the violence," he says.
The number of Palestinians wounded in the operation stands at 140, and 30 were in serious condition. "We will not surrender, we are here staying, not afraid of the enemy's rifles," said a Jenin resident, praising the operatives of the Jenin Battalion armed network. "The camp will remain the address of the conflict, it will not make us despair. People have become accustomed to the sight of houses being destroyed, the most important thing is the protection they give the militants," said another resident.
"We are not afraid of the enemy's rifles", IDF sniper in Jenin, photo: IDF Spokesperson
Mass funerals were held today for nine of the 12 Palestinians killed in Jenin. Senior Fatah figures who came to participate in the funeral procession were opposed by angry youths who accused them of treason and expelled them in disgrace. Senior Palestinian figures, including Mahmoud al-Aloul, Mahmoud Abbas' deputy in Fatah, were forced to leave after shouting at them, "Out, out – shame, shame." Earlier, young Palestinians took to the streets of Jenin and celebrated "victory celebrations" after the military forces withdrew. Islamic Jihad and Hamas boasted that "the resistance has failed the enemy's objectives and preserved the equation of deterrence against it."
Another expression of the great anger against the Palestinian Authority was seen in the early hours of the morning, when young Palestinians headed towards the Palestinian Authority administration building (muqata'a) in Jenin and shouted "agents, traitors." The demonstrators accused the Palestinian Authority of collaborating with Israel and attacked the leadership in Ramallah for the fact that the Palestinian security forces "hid during the operation in Jenin instead of protecting the militants and residents from the occupation army."
IDF forces leaving Jenin || Use under Section 27A of the Copyright Law
A source in the Palestinian Authority told Israel Hayom that he does not believe that following the operation, members of the Palestinian security forces will act in Jenin against the militants in the manner Israel expects. "Do you think we will bring members of the security forces into Jenin so that they can fight our children, carry out arrests by force, and confiscate their weapons? It doesn't work that way. You have your way and we have our methods. We won't do anything in a forceful way. First of all, get out of our cities, stop the killing, take politically beneficial steps, and then it will be easier for us to deal with the armed youths and the situation," he said.
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