How life in the West Bank has become brutal and unpredictable after Oct. 7

Geoff Bennett:

Overnight in the northern reaches of the occupied West Bank, a mosque was vandalized and set on fire by Israeli settlers, whose attacks against Palestinians there have increased greatly since the October 7 terror attacks.

Israel describes the West Bank as one of seven fronts it's fighting on stoked by Iranian support of Palestinian militants.

On a recent trip, Nick Schifrin traveled to the Jenin refugee camp, the epicenter of much of the violence. He begins his story in a nearby village.

Nick Schifrin:

It is a window into life in the occupied West Bank, what was once a sanctuary reduced to rubble.

Younes Hassan, West Bank Resident (through interpreter):

I have been building this house for 15 years. It took them 45 minutes to demolish it and leave.

Nick Schifrin:

Younes Hassan and his 2-year-old daughter, Jaffa, stand at the wreckage of the home he spent nearly half his life building.

He just finished it. Jaffa's trampoline in the living room, family dancing in the kitchen. But, in September, an Israeli bulldozer tore it down. Israel told him he didn't have a construction permit, which Palestinians and the U.N. say is nearly impossible to obtain.

Younes Hassan (through interpreter):

If I wanted to build a house like this again, it would take me 100 years. I will be in my grave before I can finish it.

Nick Schifrin:

The family says it's lived on this land for 100 years. Israel has for decades bulldozed West Bank homes in the name of counterterrorism. But the U.N. says this year Israel demolished the highest number of structures since records began 15 years ago.

And, since October the 7th, Israel has blocked Hassan's and some 150,000 West Bank Palestinians' livelihood by suspending their work permits that gave them access as day workers to Israel just beyond the wall.

Younes Hassan (through interpreter):

Before October 7, I used to work in Israel. I used to work construction there, and they knew who I was and they liked me. But since October 7, if I said hi, they don't respond. They'd shoot at me.

We have no future now. Even for my daughter, she has no future. I ask, what happened to the house? And she says the army flattened it. If they had destroyed the house with us inside, it would have been better.

Nick Schifrin:

That defeatism toward death is shared even by those responsible for saving life.

Wasef Sulaiman Rawajbi, Jenin Paramedic (through interpreter):

We are both living and we're not. You don't know if your child leaves the house if they will be back safe. Or even if I leave the house, you never know what could happen.

Nick Schifrin:

Wasef Sulaiman Rawajbi has been a paramedic in Jenin for 18 years. He and international NGOs accuse Israeli forces since October the 7th of targeting health care facilities, workers and ambulances.

Wasef Sulaiman Rawajbi (through interpreter):

Before October 7, the stop-and-searches were fewer. Today, they have no problems shooting at anyone. They will kill anyone.

Nick Schifrin:

The epicenter of the recent violence in the West Bank has been the Jenin refugee camp. In late August, Israel launched its largest West Bank raids in 20 years. Israel calls the camp the crucible of Palestinian militancy.

Another round of raids last month targeted what Israel labeled terrorists who'd attack Israeli settlers and soldiers. Israel calls the Jenin fighting urban warfare at its most difficult, because militants are embed in the city and even throw explosives at Israeli soldiers from mosques.

The Israeli military campaign here has intensified using tactics that used to be unheard of, airstrikes. This is a mosque in the Jenin refugee camp hit by Israeli jets. And locals tell me they're not going to rebuild it because they fear that, if they did, Israel would hit it again.

The U.N. established the camp and others like it for Palestinians forced from their homes during Israel's independence in 1948. At first, it was controlled by Jordan. It's been occupied by Israel since 1967. Today, some 14,000 of their descendants live here, and it has among the highest rates of unemployment and poverty across the West Bank.

Sheikh Ismael Abdel Fattah Jaradat, Jenin Refugee Camp (through interpreter):

The people are living in a sort of tough situation, a stressful situation. There's been increasing pressure on people during this time.

Nick Schifrin:

Sheikh Ismael Abdel Fattah Jaradat is one of the imams at the main refugee camp mosque. He says the toll on West Bank civilians since October 7 has been high. The U.N. says at least 730 have been killed, including three children every week.

Israel's recent Jenin raids left dug-up roads and burned and bullet-marked homes. It is no place to grow up or to parent, says Jaradat.

Sheikh Ismael Abdel Fattah Jaradat (through interpreter):

They're growing up around pressure and terror and killing. So, of course they're going to grow up abnormally with abnormal thoughts. During the last invasion, where the army came in around 11:00, right in the middle of the day. I had to go pull my son out of school.

And the scene there was terrified parents worried for their children. When the army comes in during this time, it's intentional to terrorize people.

Nick Schifrin:

Israel argues the terrorism is Palestinian. Last week, Israelis who established settlements in the West Bank held a funeral for a 12-year-old killed by a Palestinian at a bus station.

And in early October, Israel says Palestinians from the West Bank attacked this train station south of Tel Aviv and killed at least seven people, their bodies left on the sidewalk.

Brig. Gen. Assaf Orion (RET.), The Washington Institute: West Bank is one of the seven fronts that Israel fights against the axis of resistance led by Iran.

Nick Schifrin:

Assaf Orion is a retired Israeli brigadier general whose last job was leading the Israeli Defense Forces' strategic planning. Now he's a fellow with the Washington Institute of International Peace. We spoke when I returned from the West Bank.

Brig. Gen. Assaf Orion:

The job there is to keep the situation relatively stable and keep terror down. So, a famous Israeli term for that was mowing the lawn. Since tall grass allows the snakes to proliferate, you go after, like, explosive laboratories, you go after bands of armed gunmen.

Nick Schifrin:

Jenin's militants are an umbrella of armed groups that today are supplied by weapons, including these from Iran. They target Israel and the Palestinian Authority that governs part of the West Bank.

This past weekend, Palestinian police fought militants in Jenin in an operation the Palestinian prime minister called an attempt to reestablish law and order.

Mohammad Mustafa, Prime Minister, Palestinian National Authority (through interpreter):

This is to save the people in Jenin from the chaos they're living in and to save the nation.

Nick Schifrin:

West Bank chaos also comes from violence launched by Jewish residents, who have moved to the West Bank in what the international community calls illegal settlements. This year, the U.N. has tracked more than 1,400 incidents, the highest in years.

Brig. Gen. Assaf Orion:

Settlers' appetite for friction, which is, I would say, an expression of their feeling that the government is supportive, and at the same time the huge weakening of police and law enforcement.

Nick Schifrin:

In the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army is responsible for Palestinians, but arresting settlers is the responsibility of the Israeli police, who are not doing their job, argue Iran and other security officials.

Brig. Gen. Assaf Orion:

If the Israeli police is disinclined, is showing its weak hand against those aggressors, so there's no law enforcement. We can add to that recently the newly appointed minister of defense, Israel Katz, just said that administrative arrests for Jews will not be used anymore. That's a big step backwards of when you try to deter Jewish terrorism.

Nick Schifrin:

Those administrative arrests, when Israeli security forces hold suspects without charge, has helped push the number of Palestinian detainees from 5,000 to 15,000.

Hamza Qutena, Attorney For Detainees (through interpreter):

The arrests were different after October 7. Israeli police were arresting people in masses in raids and the arrests became more violent.

Nick Schifrin:

You have been a lawyer for more than 10 years.

Hamza Qutena is a Jerusalem-based lawyer for Palestinian detainees. He and the U.N. Human Rights Office accuse Israel of a wave of arbitrary and punitive arrests. They allege abuse, including of Moazaz Obaiat, a healthy bodybuilder before he was detained.

The U.N. also says at least 53 Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank and Gaza died while in custody, including Thaer Abu Asab, who was serving a 20-year sentence for attempting to bomb a checkpoint. At least 19 guards were detained in his death.

Hamza Qutena (through interpreter):

Without a doubt, the Israelis are using torture in their prisons, sometimes even leading to the death of detainees. They were tortured, mattresses taken away, leaving them in the cold. They were also subjected to psychological and mental torture by staying in the dark and lessening the amount of food they were given.

Nick Schifrin:

Israeli prison authority, which is overseen by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far right national security minister, has said repeatedly — quote — "All prisoners are detained according to the provisions of the law."

But Ben-Gvir has publicly feuded with Israel's other security agencies, which have criticized prison conditions.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israeli National Security Minister (through interpreter):

I'm surprised by my misfortune in recent days. I have dealt with the question if Palestinian prisoners should have a fruit basket or not. And I say Palestinian prisoners must be killed, shot in the head.

Nick Schifrin:

All of this adds up to tensions remaining high.

Brig. Gen. Assaf Orion:

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not on a reconciliation path. There's not a political process in sight.

Nick Schifrin:

And so the cycles of violence will continue.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin in Jenin.