In the early hours of 28 August 2024, the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) launched a vicious, major, military attack on the northern governorates of the occupied West Bank, mainly Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas, and the refugee camps therein, that is still ongoing and intensifying. This attack, which reportedly “had been planned for weeks”, involves the extensive deployment of military force, including hundreds of Israeli occupying soldiers and snipers, the air force, and an array of military vehicles, including bulldozers, in what is being described as the “biggest operation in the occupied West Bank since 2002 [the Second Intifada]”. As of the time of publishing, in a span of mere hours, at least nine Palestinians have been killed, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, due to injuries sustained by live ammunition and airstrikes.
Al-Haq’s initial monitoring reveals that, in both Jenin and Tulkarem, particularly in Jenin and Nur Shams refugee camps, the Israeli military attack involves closing off the cities’ entrances, the widespread destruction of infrastructure through the use of military bulldozers. Moreover, during the ongoing attack, a large number of Israeli soldiers carried out raids and searches of several homes in various areas, including the Jenin Refugee Camp, with Israeli snipers stationed on top of several buildings. Overall, movement in Jenin and its refugee camp has come to a complete halt, with intense surveillance aircraft hovering overhead. Furthermore, large numbers of Israeli soldiers have been reported in the area of the evacuated settlements east of Jenin, which appear to be used by the IOF as a military base.
At around 4:00 am on 28 August, initial reports indicated that an Israeli drone targeted a vehicle travelling between the villages of Sir and Misliya, south of Jenin, killing at least three Palestinians. However, some sources report the killing of four. Similarly, during the attack on the Nur Shams camp, an Israeli drone targeted and struck a group of Palestinians, causing injuries, with no confirmed reports of killings in the Tulkarem governorate thus far.
Moreover, several military jeeps and vehicles have been deployed in the vicinity of Jenin and Ibn Sina hospitals in Jenin, as well as Al-Israa and Thabet Thabet hospitals in Tulkarem. The IOF are stopping ambulances and checking for the identities of paramedics, the injured and their companions. This tactic, previously employed during other military attacks over the past months, involves closing off many roads leading to hospitals, stopping ambulances, checking the identities of transported injured, killed, or sick Palestinians, and impeding the work and access of ambulance teams. At approximately 9:20 am, Dr. Wisam Baker, the Director of Jenin Governmental Hospital, officially announced that he received a notification from the Palestinian Liaison Office about the IOF’s intention to storm Jenin Governmental Hospital, which is currently besieged. Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights warn of the dangerous consequences should the IOF proceed with the threatened attack on Jenin Governmental Hospital—the only governmental hospital and largest hospital in the entire Jenin Governorate, with around 220 beds, and the closest facility to Jenin Refugee Camp, which operates consistently at full capacity, serving a high volume of patients and visitors.
Crucially, since the start of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Israel has simultaneously escalated its oppression of Palestinians elsewhere in historic Palestine, including the systematic use of excessive and lethal force, including airstrikes, in the occupied West Bank, including in eastern Jerusalem, and particularly in refugee camps in the northern West Bank. This has, as of 27 August 2024, culminated in the killing of at least 638 Palestinians, by the IOF and Israeli settlers in the West Bank, according to Al-Haq’s documentation. Of those, around a quarter (160 Palestinians) were killed in Jenin Governorate, whereas 144 Palestinians were killed in Tulkarem Governorate, 71 in Nablus Governorate, and 41 in Tubas Governorate.
Alarmingly, the Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister, Israel Katz, declared Israel’s intention to use “the same determination” with refugee camps in northern West Bank just as with Gaza, “including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and any necessary measures.” Our organisations warn of even more escalated violence in the West Bank, with the employment of tactics that mirror those used in Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza, particularly attacks on hospitals and health care facilities, and the use of excessive and indiscriminate force.
Israel’s military attack on northern West Bank governorates should be regarded in light of Israeli intentions to permanently remove Palestinians and (re)establish Israeli colonial settlements instead. In March 2023, the Israeli Knesset passed an amendment to the disengagement law to allow Israeli settlers to return to West Bank settlements vacated during the 2005 Disengagement plan, which are located near the cities of Jenin and Nablus. This allowed for the resettlement of Homesh following its legalisation by the Israeli government. Furthermore, in May 2024, the Israeli Defense Minister approved the return of Israeli settlers to three formerly evacuated West Bank settlements: Sanur, Ganim and Kadim.
Israel’s ongoing military attack on northern cities and refugee camps of the West Bank is yet another manifestation of its colonial violence against, and dehumanisation of, the Palestinian people and denial of their rights to self-determination and return. We call on the international community to immediately intervene and implement countermeasures against Israel as required by international law to pressure it to stop its genocidal and colonial violence against Palestinians in occupied Gaza and the West Bank, particularly to impose a mandatory and comprehensive two-way military embargo against Israel. Failure to stop Israel’s systematic violations of international law by the international community, Third States, and the United Nations is emboldening Israel to escalate its violence and cement its settler-colonial project aimed at obliterating the existence of Palestinians in historic Palestine.
We demand concrete action now.