People stroll by way of the ruins of Al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin refugee camp within the northern occupied West Bank that was hit final week by an Israeli airstrike.

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People stroll by way of the ruins of Al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin refugee camp within the northern occupied West Bank that was hit final week by an Israeli airstrike.

Claire Harbage/NPR

JENIN, West Bank — The mosque is unrecognizable. The stairway to the higher ground, now missing a wall to assist it, is leaning surprisingly. Pillars holding up the ceiling are bowing. Rubble is piled up outdoors. And by way of the holes within the ground, a person friends into the basement the place Israeli safety forces say Palestinian militants had been storing weapons.

The Israeli airstrike that destroyed the Al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin on Oct. 22 was an uncommon prevalence for the occupied West Bank, the place Israeli forces normally favor floor raids as an alternative. At least two Palestinians had been killed, officers in Jenin say.

In the times since, Israeli safety forces have mounted at the least three raids on Jenin, all of them lethal. In whole, at the least 11 Palestinians have been killed in Jenin in simply over every week, Palestinian officers say.

Beyond Jenin, throughout the West Bank, Palestinians say that Israel has tightened restrictions and Israel’s safety forces have stepped up operations because the Gaza-based militant group Hamas launched assaults on Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people.

Young males stand in entrance of not too long ago dug graves of individuals killed by Israeli forces in Jenin. More than 100 Palestinians have been killed within the West Bank within the three weeks because the battle started.

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Young males stand in entrance of not too long ago dug graves of individuals killed by Israeli forces in Jenin. More than 100 Palestinians have been killed within the West Bank within the three weeks because the battle started.

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Israel says it’s concentrating on militants and that its actions are essential to counter what it calls terrorism.

Most of Israel’s combating has centered on the Gaza Strip, the place Hamas relies. Israel’s army has killed greater than 8,000 and injured greater than 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza within the final three weeks, well being officers in Gaza say.

While Israeli raids usually are not new to Palestinians within the West Bank, they’ve stepped up since Oct. 7. From the beginning of 2023 by way of Oct. 6, 197 Palestinians had been killed within the West Bank, based on an Associated Press tally. But because the begin of the battle, Israeli safety forces have killed greater than 100 Palestinians within the West Bank, Palestinian officers say, and 1,500 extra have been arrested.

A household subsequent door to the mosque

For a long time, Jenin and its densely populated refugee camp have been a place where Palestinian militants have been active. Over the years, militants from Jenin have carried out suicide bomb assaults and armed assaults on Israeli settlers.

Noor Damaj sits the place he was on the evening of the Israeli airstrike that hit the mosque subsequent to his residence in Jenin.

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Noor Damaj sits the place he was on the evening of the Israeli airstrike that hit the mosque subsequent to his residence in Jenin.

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The mosque airstrike got here after midnight on Oct. 22. When it hit, Noor Damaj was outdoors consuming tea with kinfolk in an unfinished condominium above his uncle’s residence, subsequent door to the mosque.

“I wanted to go down and see what had happened to my family. I could not even get in,” Damaj says. “There was so much dust and gunpowder we could barely see.”

Itaf Damaj stands within the doorway of her residence the place she and different relations had been trapped from the rubble of the strike on the mosque subsequent door, in Jenin.

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Itaf Damaj stands within the doorway of her residence the place she and different relations had been trapped from the rubble of the strike on the mosque subsequent door, in Jenin.

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Rubble from the mosque had piled up in opposition to their residence’s exterior doorways, he says, trapping them outdoors and different relations inside. It took an hour and a half to clear.

No one within the household was injured, however there’s sufficient injury that they’re presently staying with household elsewhere in Jenin.

Their house is so near the mosque, says Damaj’s aunt, Itaf Damaj, that she thought it not possible that Israelis hadn’t recognized they had been there.

“I am sure their planes have taken pictures of us. I am sure they know there are civilians living next to the mosque. But they didn’t care,” she says.

In a press release, the Israel Defense Forces mentioned the goal of the strike was an “underground terror compound” on the mosque that was being utilized by members of Hamas and one other militant group, Islamic Jihad.

Noor Damaj (left) seems on as a fellow Jenin resident surveys the mosque destruction by way of a bed room window at his residence.

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Noor Damaj (left) seems on as a fellow Jenin resident surveys the mosque destruction by way of a bed room window at his residence.

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“The mosque was used by the terrorists as a command center to plan the attacks and as a base for their execution,” the army mentioned, including that it had acquired intelligence that one such assault was “imminent.”

Local residents say the mosque had a basement and a tunnel that served as an emergency exit to an alleyway close by.

Asked how he felt in regards to the presence of militants on the mosque, Noor Damaj solutions merely: “They are part of our society.”

The highway towards the Al-Ansar Mosque is blocked to autos in Jenin. Palestinian militants have been energetic in Jenin through the years.

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The highway towards the Al-Ansar Mosque is blocked to autos in Jenin. Palestinian militants have been energetic in Jenin through the years.

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The deep-rooted issues in Jenin

More than 10,000 individuals reside within the refugee camp, part of Jenin filled with squat concrete homes and condominium buildings separated by steep, winding alleys. Most residents are descendants of Palestinian refugees from the battle across the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, and object to the Israeli occupation that has lasted for many years.

Israeli safety forces have periodically raided the refugee camp. In July, tons of of troops stormed the camp, backed by airstrikes. It was by far the largest operation in years that Israel had carried out within the West Bank.

Things had grown comparatively quiet since then, residents say — till final week. In fast succession got here the Israeli airstrike, then a drone assault that killed three, after which one other raid that left at the least one Palestinian useless, based on Palestinian officers.

Sarah Zakarneh, 5, and her household reside across the nook from the Al-Ansar Mosque. The household was sleeping when the airstrike hit and after waking up they fled to a member of the family’s home outdoors of city.

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Sarah Zakarneh, 5, and her household reside across the nook from the Al-Ansar Mosque. The household was sleeping when the airstrike hit and after waking up they fled to a member of the family’s home outdoors of city.

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On Monday, at the least 4 Palestinians had been killed by an Israeli plane as safety forces carried out a fourth raid, officers from each Israel and the West Bank mentioned. Israeli bulldozers dug up streets and dozens of Palestinians had been arrested.

Some residents are frightened.

Ma’in Zakarneh (proper) together with his spouse, Yasmin, and daughters Salma, 1, Sarah, 5, and Maie, 3, at their residence in Jenin.

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Ma’in Zakarneh (proper) together with his spouse, Yasmin, and daughters Salma, 1, Sarah, 5, and Maie, 3, at their residence in Jenin.

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Around the nook from the mosque, Ma’in Zakarneh was asleep when the airstrike hit on Oct. 22. After a second of shock, he and his spouse rushed to collect their three younger daughters and drive to a member of the family’s residence outdoors of city.

“All my daughters were crying, were panicking, were in a state of shock,” he says. “I felt like we were about to die.”

In July, Zakarneh told NPR he needed to maneuver to the U.S. to flee the violence, as his spouse and one in all their daughters are American residents. They utilized a number of years in the past, they mentioned, however their case hasn’t gone anyplace but.

Maie Zakarneh, 3, passes in entrance of a view of Jenin refugee camp. More than 10,000 individuals reside within the camp.

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Maie Zakarneh, 3, passes in entrance of a view of Jenin refugee camp. More than 10,000 individuals reside within the camp.

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Now, they are saying, it feels much more pressing.

Zakarneh’s spouse, Yasmin Radwan, despatched an electronic mail to the State Department final week, begging for his or her case to be expedited. She confirmed NPR the e-mail, through which she described their proximity to the airstrike and the continued violence. “We are not living in [safety] and peace. Every day, we see militants walking around in the streets,” she wrote.

The issues in Jenin are troublesome to unravel, Zakarneh says. He has an excellent job, a pleasant home and a household to take care of — however not everybody within the refugee camp has a life like that. Many of Jenin’s residents are younger, impoverished and unemployed.

Boys take a look at a ripped T-shirt and blood on the bottom on the web site of an Israeli drone strike that killed two youngsters and one 20-year-old in Jenin refugee camp.

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Boys take a look at a ripped T-shirt and blood on the bottom on the web site of an Israeli drone strike that killed two youngsters and one 20-year-old in Jenin refugee camp.

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“I’m very sad because most of our friends have gone”

Just a couple of days after final week’s airstrike on the mosque, an Israeli drone strike killed three younger males in Jenin — two youngsters and a 20-year-old, based on witnesses. A fourth, one other teenager, was killed in gun combating that adopted, witnesses mentioned.

Hours later, their blood was nonetheless on the bottom. So too had been scraps of steel: leftover items of the do-it-yourself explosive units they had been holding, witnesses mentioned.

“During counterterrorism activity in the Jenin Camp, armed terrorists fired and hurled explosive devices at Israeli security forces,” the Israeli army mentioned in a brief assertion. “In response, an IDF UAV struck the terrorists. Hits were identified.”

A younger man sits by the contemporary graves of the 2 youngsters and one 20-year-old killed within the current Israeli drone strike in Jenin.

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A younger man sits by the contemporary graves of the 2 youngsters and one 20-year-old killed within the current Israeli drone strike in Jenin.

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The strike hit simply outdoors a cemetery the place Palestinians killed by Israeli forces are buried. The cemetery is full, locals mentioned. Those who died in final week’s assaults had been all buried at a brand new graveyard close by.

Last Wednesday afternoon, about 12 hours after the drone strike, a couple of mourners had been lingering on the contemporary graves.

A 13-year-old boy named Tarik says the useless had been buddies of his brother. “I’m very sad, because most of our friends have gone,” he says.

He personally would not have held the do-it-yourself explosives, he says. But when requested what his future holds, he has just one reply: Muqawim, freedom fighter.

Nuha Musleh contributed reporting in Jenin and Ramallah.