The atmosphere in Jenin refugee camp feels like one I have witnessed elsewhere – in Gaza, after wars with Israel.
But this is the occupied West Bank; where the dynamics are very different. Now it seems like a fast descent into something far more dangerous is already happening.
The destruction in the camp following the Israeli army’s biggest assault there in 20 years is massive.
As hundreds of troops entered the camp on Monday morning, the army fired missiles from drones – air strikes have not been used in the West Bank for two decades – and tore up roads to clear them of what it said were militants’ roadside bombs.
Fierce gun battles broke out between the troops and Palestinian militants and continued until Israeli troops withdrew on Tuesday night.
Now for the first time in safety since Sunday, thousands of residents pour into the streets to see the destruction themselves.
They clamber over rubble, take photos on their phones of the wreckage and compare experiences, pointing out which homes were raided, whose sons have been detained, and where the dead fell. One man walks up to me saying it reminds him of pictures from Turkey and Syria earlier this year – after the earthquake.
Source : BBC.com
