JERUSALEM: Tens of thousands of Palestinians living in refugee camps in the occupied West Bank have left their homes as a weeks-long Zionist offensive has demolished houses and torn up vital infrastructure in the heavily built up townships, Palestinian authorities said. Zionist forces began their operation in the refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Jan. 21, deploying hundreds of troops and bulldozers that demolished houses and dug up roads, driving almost all of the camp’s residents out.

“We don’t know what’s going on in the camp but there is continuous demolition and roads being dug up,” said Mohammed Al-Sabbagh, head of the Jenin camp services committee. The operation has since been extended to other camps, notably the Tulkarem refugee camp and the nearby Nur Shams camp, both of which have also been devastated.

The camps, built for descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war around the creation of the Zionist entity, have long been major centers for armed groups. They have been raided repeatedly by the Zionist military but the current operation, which began as a ceasefire was agreed in Gaza, has been on an unusually large scale.

According to figures from the Palestinian Authority, around 17,000 people have now left Jenin refugee camp, leaving the site almost completely deserted, while in Nur Shams 6,000 people, or about two thirds of the total, have left, with another 10,000 leaving from Tulkarem camp. “The ones who are left are trapped,” said Nihad Al-Shawish, head of the Nur Shams camp services committee. “The Civil Defense, the Red Crescent and the Palestinian security forces brought them some food yesterday but the army is still bulldozing and destroying the camp.”

The Zionist raids have demolished dozens of houses and torn up large stretches of roadway as well as cutting off water and power, but the military has denied forcing residents to leave their homes. “People obviously have the possibility to move or go where they want, if they will. But if they don’t, they’re allowed to stay,” Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters.

The operation began as the Zionist entity moved to banish the main UN Palestinian relief organization UNRWA from its headquarters in East Jerusalem and cut it off from any contact with Zionist officials. The ban, which took effect at the end of January, has hit UNRWA’s work in the West Bank and Gaza, where it provides aid for millions of Palestinians in the refugee camps. – Reuters