Palestinians in West Bank struggle to recover after intense Israeli military operation

Amna Nawaz:

The United Nations secretary-general today denounced what he called an excessive use of force by Israel in the occupied West Bank.

It comes after the Israel Defense Forces conducted a two-day operation in the Jenin refugee camp that it said targeted Palestinian militants. Elsewhere today in the West Bank, an Israeli soldier was shot and killed by a Hamas militants near in Israeli settlement. The shooter was then killed by Israeli forces.

As special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen reports from Jenin, the destruction after the fighting is massive, and the anger boiling.

Leila Molana-Allen:

In the blistering morning heat, the residents of Jenin camp are all hands on deck to clear the aftermath of this week's attack.

The air is clogged with dust, as chunks of asphalt, shattered glass and crumpled metal are swept aside. Major infrastructure lies in pieces. Burnt-out cars sit scattered on the streets outside homes bearing bitter pleas: "Everything we have is destroyed. Please send us help."

Mahmoud Aljul (ph) had sensed something was coming. Several days before the operation, three of his adult sons were arrested after an Israel Defense Forces raid on his house while they had breakfast.

Man (through translator):

They raided the village. They came to my house, they blindfolded my boys, and they took them away.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Mahmoud says his sons have done nothing wrong. With many young men in the camp in favor of the Palestinian resistance to Israel's occupation of the West Bank, but not necessarily fighting, it's a gray area that's a common problem in terms of what the IDF considers adequate grounds for detention and interrogation.

With two sons still in custody, on Monday morning, missiles began to rain down around the family. Like many others, they decided to flee as soon as they were allowed to leave. When they returned two days later, it was to a scene of devastation.

Man (through translator):

This is a barbaric act. Look what they have done. They use the excuse that they're looking for someone. But look at this. Look at all the damage they have done.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Mahmoud's house was flattened in the 2002 operation here, during the height of the Second Intifada, or uprising, by Palestinians. And the family had to rebuild from scratch.

Now they face another rebuild with their savings gone. There is a huge amount of anger and resentment here, and that could still boil over. But, today, right now, the priority is to get this place livable again as quickly as possible. The main roads have been bulldozed to pieces. The main water supply into town was hit, isn't functioning. The main health care system was attacked, and that center is closed.

And people here really have nowhere else to go. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the operation as a resounding success Wednesday.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

We operated in a very systemic way with large forces in one of the most concentrated and dense areas on the planet.

Leila Molana-Allen:

The scale of the operation, the most intense carried out in the West Bank in nearly two decades, was a significant escalation, with helicopter gunships, artillery and missile-carrying drones deployed in a dense area of less than half-a-square-mile, packed with up to 20,000 civilians at any one time.

U.N. experts said today the IDF's use of airstrikes and elite ground troops here may constitute war crimes. Nine of the 12 dead Palestinians were claimed by militant groups as members. But beyond the dead and injured, the sheer scale of destruction and injury here is a casualty in itself, lives uprooted and children traumatized in a place where it's already a struggle to survive.

Dana Dodeen from UNRWA, the U.N. agency that operates services for Palestinians here and in the 18 other camps across the country, who was here to survey the damage.

Dana Dodeen, UNRWA:

So the work is ongoing. We haven't stopped working since the beginning of this crisis. And, yes, we're just hoping to resume to our operations. Like, our first priority is to be able to open the school, having the children there as a safe — safe space.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Donna, UNRWA is already struggling for money. This year, you only have $100 million of the $300 million that you need. That's a two-thirds shortfall. And that was before this situation.

By having to constantly rebuild these camps that you run when they're damaged, how does that affect your ability to provide the everyday services like health care and education that you have to provide for people here?

Dana Dodeen:

Well, of course, the need is dire. And, yes, we are counting on the support of the international community, as always.

Leila Molana-Allen:

It's not just homes, but families and livelihoods that have been torn apart throughout the tight alleys of the camp.

Jihad Mohammad Yassin's son was badly injured by a rocket in the early hours of Monday's assault.

Jihad Mohammad Yassin, Jenin Resident (through translator):

I carried him in my arms and walk searching because no one could reach us. I was so lucky I found an ambulance to take him.

Leila Molana-Allen:

In the 2002 assault on Jenin camp, Jihad's left leg was nearly destroyed by an incoming missile. On Monday, his son was injured in the right leg standing in nearly the same spot by a similar weapon.

On Monday morning, during the assault, a rocket came in through this window and injured his son; 20 years ago, a rocket came through the same window injuring him history, repeating itself in this family. Jihad returned from the hospital to find his small butcher's shop, the family's only reliable income, in pieces.

Not only the military operation, but the street-to-street gun battles that followed, destroyed shops on the main drags throughout the camp.

Jihad Mohammad Yassin (through translator):

Is my shop a terrorist? No, Israel's the main terrorist.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Jihad's mother, Aida, originally comes from Haifa on the Mediterranean coast and settled in Jenin camp after her entire family was killed by an IDF missile during the 1967 war.

She worked for 30 years to build this house, rubbing away the very pigment from her skin through years of hard labor in a cement factory.

Aida, Mother of Jihad (through translator): We left our home in Haifa, and now they're chasing us here. Why are they still going after us here?

Leila Molana-Allen:

Now, at 93 years old, it's time for her to rebuild her home a third time.

I haven't seen a hospital in Jenin town, where the most injured were rushed when the blockade allowed. The blood has been washed from the floors and calm restored. Operations for the most serious injuries are under way.

In a bed upstairs, Jihad's 21-year-old son lies recovering from surgery that reconstructed his lower leg bones with a 15-inch titanium rod.

Jihad Mohammad Yassin (through translator):

The shrapnel from a missile hit my son in the leg. The force of the missile lifted him three meters off the ground and threw him back down. Now I don't know how long it will take him to heal, and he won't be able to work for a while. He's in a paralyzed situation.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Jihad's son is too afraid to show his face or speak to us. Traumatized and injured, he fears reprisals from the IDF if he's identified.

Jihad Mohammad Yassin (through translator):

The pain I felt 20 years ago, he's feeling it now.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Like so many others here, Jihad, exhausted and afraid, must now piece back together his home, his family and his livelihood, never knowing when destruction may come knocking again.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Leila Molana-Allen in Jenin camp, the West Bank.