The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has strongly denounced an expanded bulldozing and destruction campaign by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, which has now entered its 123rd consecutive day.
In a statement released on Friday, Hamas said the occupying forces were "intensifying systematic bulldozing and destruction aimed at erasing Palestinian landmarks.”
The Palestinian resistance group accused Israeli forces of “tightening the siege and preventing Jenin’s residents from reaching their homes."
Initial assessments show the aggression has led to the complete demolition of 600 homes in the camp, with the remaining houses partially damaged and rendered uninhabitable, Hamas said.
"Estimates indicate the occupation has carved out roughly 15 roads inside Jenin Camp—which covers less than half a square kilometer.”
The resistance movement says the city itself has suffered extensive destruction to buildings, facilities, and infrastructure.
“While completely destroying its infrastructure and heavily damaging much of the city’s Basic services have ground to a halt as a result of the aggression."
Hamas also said Israeli occupying forces continue "carrying out raids in Jenin and its surroundings, subjecting citizens to abuse and mass arrests."
Elsewhere in the statement, Hamas said, the regime’s soldiers in a flagrant escalation directly targeted dozens Arab and European ambassadors and diplomats during their visit to Jenin Camp
“The act epitomizes the occupation’s arrogance and its wholesale violation of all international norms and conventions.”
On May 21, Israeli forces stationed at Jenin refugee camp fired live ammunition at a diplomatic delegation as it was entering the camp to view the living conditions of the refugees.
The diplomats that visited the camp were from Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, India, Japan, Jordan, Lithuania, Mexico Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sri Lanka, Spain, Turkey, the EU, and the UK, along with representatives from several other countries and journalists accompanying them.
The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates had organized the visit for the international community to witness the Israeli regime’s ongoing aggression against the Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank.
Israel launched an intensified offensive against the occupied West Bank on January 21, claiming that it was targeting resistance fighters of the Jenin Battalion.
The regime has ramped up its West Bank violence since October 7, 2023, when it launched its genocide in Gaza. Since then, Israeli forces and settlers have killed about 1,000 Palestinians in the occupied territory.
The number of attacks by settlers and occupation forces on the Palestinians of the Occupied West Bank has increased dramatically since then.
The Israeli regime has also killed at least 1,000 Palestinians and abducted 7,000 in the occupied West Bank.
Thousands of residents have also been forcibly displaced after being driven from their homes by occupation forces over the past few months.
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