ISTANBUL

Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank “have endured the impossible” amid an ongoing Israeli onslaught in the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Monday.

“In a split second yesterday, large swathes of Jenin camp were completely destroyed in a series of controlled detonations by the Israeli Security Forces,” UNRWA said in a statement.

“Residents of the camp have endured the impossible, facing nearly two months of unceasing and escalating violence. In the last months, Jenin camp has been rendered a ghost town.”

On Jan. 21, the Israeli army launched an assault on Jenin city and its refugee camp, killing at least 26 Palestinians. The offensive was later expanded to the city of Tulkarem, where at least three Palestinians were killed.

UNRWA said thousands of residents have been displaced from the camp due to the Israeli onslaught and a recent security operation conducted by Palestinian security forces.

The UN agency said that its services inside the Jenin camp have been interrupted for months and stopped completely in early December.

“Today’s shocking scenes in the West Bank undermine the fragile ceasefire reached in Gaza, and risk a new escalation,” it warned.

The Israeli escalation in the West Bank came after a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal took hold in Gaza on Jan. 19, following 15 months of Israel’s genocidal war that killed over 47,500 Palestinians and reduced the enclave to rubble.

Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, more than 900 Palestinians have been killed across the West Bank in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers.