The story below is an eyewitness dispatch from the Israeli siege of the occupied West Bank—the largest Israeli military offensive there since the Second Intifada. When Israeli forces invaded in 2002, the northern city of Jenin was subject to some of the worst violence, with the Israeli military killing dozens of civilians, destroying hundreds of homes, and leaving a quarter of the population homeless.
Jenin is once again the epicenter of a massive military offensive, with hundreds of troops, backed by armored vehicles, fighter jets and drones, raiding the city along with Tubas, Tulkarem, and elsewhere. Many of the same tactics used by the Israeli military in 2002 and since are being repeated in this latest assault: killings, arrests, home demolitions, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and attacks on hospitals.
A few days ago we reached out to Palestinian journalist Mujahed al-Saadi for coverage from the ground on the targeting of Jenin’s hospitals by the Israeli military. A reporter from Jenin who has covered the region since 2012, al-Saadi is no stranger to the dangers of working as a journalist in Palestine. In 2022, he was just a few feet away from his friend and colleague Shireen Abu Akleh, the legendary Al Jazeera correspondent, when an Israeli sniper shot and killed her…..more
