Jenin City is a hotspot in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with both sides striving to strengthen their hold on it, as the city and its camp serve as a launch point for operations against Israel.
On Monday, Israeli forces carried out a drone strike on Jenin City during one of the largest military operations in the occupied West Bank in twenty years, resulting in at least eight deaths. Here are details about Jenin, the center of escalating violence between Israel and the Palestinians:
**Refugee Camp**
Jenin, located in northern West Bank, which is under Israeli occupation, is home to a densely populated refugee camp of the same name, with approximately 14,000 residents descended from Palestinians displaced during the establishment of Israel in 1948. Their families originate from areas including Haifa and Nazareth. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) states that the Jenin camp suffers the highest rates of unemployment and poverty among the 19 refugee camps in the West Bank.
**Battlefield**
Jenin has been a scene of some of the worst violence during the Second Intifada, which erupted after the failure of U.S.-brokered peace talks in 2000, turning it into a battleground between Israel and armed Palestinian groups. In 2002, Israel launched a large-scale assault on the Jenin refugee camp as part of a broader operation in the West Bank aimed at halting militant attacks, including suicide bombings. The UN reported in August 2002 that 52 Palestinians were killed in Jenin, half of whom were civilians, while Israel lost 23 soldiers there. The report refuted claims by the late Palestinian official Saeb Erekat that 500 people were killed in Jenin, blaming all fighters for putting civilians at risk. The report documented more Israeli violations than Palestinian ones, especially when Israel refused to allow humanitarian workers into the camp, but noted that Palestinian fighters were hiding in civilian homes. UNRWA, which coordinated and carried out the reconstruction of the camp, stated that over 400 homes were destroyed in the operation, leaving more than a quarter of the population homeless.
**Revived Violence**
Jenin has been a hotbed of unrest shaking the West Bank for over a year. Deadly clashes in the area have become regular occurrences. Last month, Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces engaged in hours-long gun battles in Jenin, resulting in the deaths of six Palestinians and injuries to over 90 Palestinians and seven Israelis. In response, Palestinian gunmen shot dead four Israelis near a Jewish settlement, prompting settlers to attack Palestinian towns, burning buildings and vehicles. In January, Israeli forces killed seven militants and two civilians in a raid in Jenin. The following day, a Palestinian gunman killed seven people in a synagogue on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Jenin hosts several armed factions including Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) that controls Gaza, alongside the military wing of Fatah led by President Mahmoud Abbas. Militants operate in the camp under the banner of the "Jenin Brigades."
**Killing of Journalist**
Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who also held U.S. citizenship, was shot and killed while covering an Israeli army raid in Jenin last year.
