Against the sporadic drumbeat of explosions, an electric buggy riddled with bullet holes ferries the elderly and their bags across the ravaged territory that is now the main way out of Jenin and its refugee camp.
Behind them, Palestinian families carry their children and suitcases along the dirt road bulldozed by the Israeli military in their operation they say is against militants in the occupied West Bank city.
Among them is eight-year-old Asmaa, in a pink jumper, clutching a baby goat she says her family rescued on their way out. A little ahead is Lutifyeh, a mother-of-12 in her sixties, who says they all fled after Israeli drones fitted with speakers that morning ordered them to leave immediately.
“The refugee camp is empty. We have no place to go. There was bombing and bulldozers as we came out,” Lutifyeh says, in tears. “My family has been here since 1948, for 70 years. We have no place but this house. Where shall we go? There is nothing there.
“I’m afraid that, yes, there is a ceasefire in Gaza but there is a new war here.”
Families in Gaza and those of the hostages from Israel celebrated a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group, hoping it would herald an end to a ruinous 15-month conflict, the return of hostages and detainees, and maybe even usher in a permanent peace.
But just three days into the agreement, Israel announced the start of a “major counter-terrorism” operation in northern parts of the occupied West Bank. The focus is Jenin and its refugee camp, which has increasingly become a stronghold for Palestinian militants loyal to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad but is also home to thousands of civilians.
Jenin had just been the battleground of a weeks-long operation by security forces of the Palestinian Authority – controlled by Fatah, the rival faction to Hamas – which wanted to reassert control over the city before the Israeli offensive. And so many fear that rather than the ceasefire being the beginning of the end of the violence in the region, the theatre of war has shifted to the West Bank.
Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state, since the 1967 Middle East war. It has built Jewish settlements that are illegal under international law and widely condemned internationally. Israel disputes this and cites historical and Biblical ties to the land.
In recent years, with an increasingly extreme right-wing government that includes ministers who are settlers themselves, Israel has expanded its settlement programme, forced displacement of Palestinians, and military-level raids. Violence from militants has also surged.
Since the Gaza ceasefire has come into effect, columns of Israeli military vehicles, backed by helicopters and drones, have pushed into and pounded Jenin – a level of “unlawful force” that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Thameen Al-Kheetan, said on Friday involves “methods and means developed for war fighting”.
“This includes multiple airstrikes and apparently random shooting at unarmed residents attempting to flee or find safety,” he warned.
“It is very concerning that what’s happening today in the West Bank may have an impact on the ceasefire in Gaza. It is imperative that the ceasefire in Gaza holds.”
Palestinian health officials said that since the Israeli operation, at least 12 people have been killed in Jenin, including medics and a 43-year-old father who was reportedly shot dead while driving his children in a car. The deputy governor of Jenin told local media this week that at least half of the 18,000-strong population of the refugee camp has fled. Rights groups like Action Aid have said the refugee camp is “experiencing the hardest days of its existence”.
