RAMALLAH, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Israeli authorities on Monday allowed about 120 Palestinian women from the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank to enter the camp for several hours under tight military supervision to check their homes and retrieve belongings.
According to Palestinian security sources, the entry, coordinated with the Palestinian liaison office, was limited to women and restricted to pre-designated routes.
All the women underwent thorough inspections and were escorted by Israeli forces during the brief visit. They were not allowed to stay overnight, as large parts of the camp remain closed, the sources said.
This marks the second such "exceptional" measure since Israel launched a large-scale military operation in Jenin camp on Jan. 21, 2025, dubbed "Iron Wall." The operation, described by Israel as aimed at "eliminating terrorism," later expanded to other camps in the northern West Bank.
Thousands of families have been displaced, and widespread destruction of infrastructure and homes has made permanent return currently unfeasible, local residents said.
Women who entered the camp on Monday described the scene as a "catastrophe." Tahani al-Ghoul, a mother of three displaced from the camp, told Xinhua that "the Jenin camp that once bustled with life has now turned into a ghost town, where you see only military patrols and Israeli soldiers."
Hanan Farahteh, whose three-story house was partially demolished, told Xinhua that what they saw in just a few hours "is indescribable -- homes, schools, roads, everything has been destroyed, as if an earthquake had struck the area."
Established in 1953, Jenin camp is the second-largest camp in the West Bank and home to about 27,000 Palestinian refugees. It has been a recurring flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ■
