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Hundreds of protesters turned out for a rally outside Israel's embassy in London on Wednesday after a deadly Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
The large-scale Israeli assault, involving hundreds of forces, drone strikes and armoured bulldozers, lasted two days, with Israeli forces withdrawing from their positions in the camp late on Tuesday.
The Israeli army said one of its soldiers died, while 12 Palestinians had been killed and dozens were injured. Images from Jenin showed widescale destruction, with much of the crowded city left charred and in rubble from the attack which displaced at least 3,000 residents.
"What we've witnessed this week is another grim episode in Israel's relentless brutality against Palestinians," Ismail Patel, chair of British pro-Palestine group Friends of Al-Aqsa, said in a press release.
"Israel's murder of 12 Palestinians in Jenin, including four children, demonstrates the apartheid state's persistent barbarity.
"Today, we've gathered to demand an end to this. We're calling for sanctions on Israel and recommitting our efforts to standing up for Palestinians by urging everyone to email their MPs to oppose the dangerous 'anti-BDS bill.'"
The protest, which is now finished, drew around 500 people.
The anti-BDS or anti-boycott bill is an attempt by the British government to stop public bodies from boycotting Israel, though the proposed legislation would also apply to campaigns against other countries.
It is as yet not law, though on Monday MPs voted to give it its second reading in the House of Commons in an early step in the legislative process.
Featured images: Reem Khabbazy/The New Arab
VIDEO: Protesters hold placards, Palestinian flags at rally outside Israel embassy
Protesters held placards and Palestinian flags at this evening's rally outside the Israeli embassy in London
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📷 @Reemkhabbazy / The New Arab pic.twitter.com/OaagmYMBTj
VIDEO – Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal: 'Until the day of liberation arrives'
Here's some of what Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal had to say at this evening's protest.
Here's some of what @PSCupdates director Ben Jamal had to say at the rally outside Israel's embassy in London this evening
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) July 5, 2023
📷 @Reemkhabbazy/The New Arab pic.twitter.com/Kz5u2hJ76v
Protest finished outside Israel's London embassy
The protest outside the Israeli embassy in London has finished.
The rally saw demonstrators chant "Free, free Palestine" and "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free", referring to the River Jordan and Mediterranean Sea.
London rally in more pictures
Here are two photos, courtesy of The New Arab's Reem Khabbazy.
London rally in pictures
Here are two photos of the rally taking place outside the Israeli embassy in London, courtesy of Friends of Al-Aqsa.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal in message for Israeli government
Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal delivers a message for the Israeli government as he addresses protesters.
"Our message today to the Israeli government is end your oppression. End your brutality. End your illegal occupation. End your system of apartheid," he says.
"But our message today to our government, to our public bodies, to our corporations, is end your complicity. And know this… we will never stop protesting, never stop lobbying, never stop boycotting until you end your support for this injustice."
Stop the War Coalition's Chris Nineham addresses protesters
Chris Nineham of the Stop the War Coalition (StWC) addresses the crowd. StWC is one of the groups that organised today's rally.
"This was an attack by one of the most heavily armed countries in the world against a refugee camp, for God's sake," he says, referring to the recent Israeli raid on the Jenin camp.
"This, as the current Israeli government openly admit, is part of an ongoing attempt to brutally suppress, repress and break the Palestinian people."
Jeremy Corbyn addresses crowd
Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, now an independent MP, addresses the crowd. Corbyn is well known as a supporter of Palestine.
"A hundred and fifty settlements. Seventy more settlements planned. Over half a million settlers already placed in Palestine and 600 checkpoints across the West Bank," he says.
"When they say: 'Get the peace process back on track'; when they say: 'Get the talks returning', what I see is more settlements, more military presence, more checkpoints, more settlements planned and more poverty and oppression of the people of Palestine.
"Just imagine what it's like if your whole life – your whole life – as a young person or indeed middle-aged person has been to get up in the morning, go outside your home, and what do you see? Occupying military forces.
"And when you go down the road to go to school or college, or anywhere else: checkpoint after checkpoint after checkpoint, which are randomly and often closed, so you can't go about whatever you were planning to do that day.
"Imagine what that does to the psyche. Imagine what that does to your spirit. Imagine what that does to your sense of freedom."
Hundreds turn out for rally outside Israel's London embassy
Around 500 protesters have turned out for the rally outside Israel's London embassy.
The demonstration was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Friends of Al-Aqsa, the Palestinian Forum in Britain, the Stop the War Coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain.
Ahead of the protest, PSC director Ben Jamal said: "Hundreds will gather on the streets of London tonight to demand that Israel to end its militarised enforcement of apartheid on Palestinians, to call on the UK government to end its complicit support with this system of oppression and to remind the Palestinian people that they are not alone and that people of conscience in the UK stand with them in their struggle for liberation."
Jenin situation 'very alarming, warns ICRC
Most of the Palestinians living in Jenin are "massively distressed" by the Israeli military raid, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned.
“It is important to highlight that the population were already victim of the last six turbulent months due to several peaks of violence that occurred during the last six months, which makes the humanitarian situation already fragile,” the ICRC's Imene Trabelsi told Al Jazeera.
“What we are witnessing as we are speaking that the majority of the population within the camp have been somehow affected.”
The residents do not have access to electricity and clean, drinkable water due to the damage caused by Israeli forces to the main water pipelines and electricity grid.
Armed actors have the legal obligation to take every possible measure in order to protect the safety of civilians, their properties, and the vital infrastructure, Trabelsi said.
"What we are seeing today is a very alarming humanitarian situation that requires further support from the humanitarian actors," she said.
"The main responsibility falls under what the authorities must be delivering. Israeli authorities do have the obligation during such operations to make sure that the population at all times do still have access to water, electricity, health, food and shelter."
Israel's deadly incursion into Jenin was the largest West Bank offensive in decades, involving airstrikes and hundreds of soldiers. Will more follow? Read our analysis for more.
Palestinians in Jenin speak of despair
Palestinian Jenin resident Mohammed Baajawi is among the many now facing homelessness.
He tells The New Arab how his family survived an Israeli airstrike targeting their house after receiving a phone call and being told to evacuate immediately.
“The Israeli occupation put my family and I under pressure. We did not have a long time and we did not know what we should do," the 55-year-old father of four explains.
"My wife was screaming saying that we need to leave. There was heavy gunfire and tear gas canisters launched by the Israeli forces so it was hard to move around.
"I thought we were the only family who had to evacuate their house, but when we came out, I saw hundreds of people also trying to escape," he adds.
"We did not realise what was happening; we only heard the explosions everywhere and the chaos that had surrounded us."
Read the full report here: Displaced and devastated: The Nakba continues as thousands of Palestinians left in uncertainty after fleeing Jenin refugee camp
Israeli forces targeted journalists last night
Israeli forces targeted two journalists late on Tuesday evening during their coverage of the aggression on the city and camp of Jenin in the northern West Bank.
Reporter Karim Khmaisah, from the Al-Irsal network, told Al Araby Al Jadeed that the Israeli forces targeted him and journalist Amir Abu Aram while filming the confrontations near the cinema roundabout in Jenin.
Khmaisah added that a bullet pierced through a metal column in front of him and hit a billboard near his head as he was being targetted.
He said he and Abu Aram rushed to take shelter at the entrance of a nearby building, especially following the arrival of an armoured bulldozer.
Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted journalists during its two-day assault on the Jenin, including the crew of Al Araby TV.
Where is Jenin camp?
The occupied West Bank is a landlocked area just off the River Jordan, bounded on the north, west and south by Israel.
The Jenin refugee camp is located in the west of the city of Jenin.
PA's inaction sparks anger
Angry Palestinians stopped three senior Palestinian Authority (PA) officials from taking part in the funeral for those killed by the Israeli raid on Jenin.
"Get out! Get out!" people chanted, forcing them out of the procession.
Crowns have shown dismay and anger towards the PA over its inability to control some parts of the occupied West Bank to push back Israeli forces.
Earlier today, hundreds gathered in front of the PA governor’s office, throwing rocks at its 5-metre-high walls.
Rubble prevents ambulance from reaching injured
The destruction and rubble have prevented medical crews and ambulances from reaching the centre of the Jenin camp.
The medics were attempting to enter the centre of the camp to search for bodies and help wounded Palestinians.
The power outage also continued into the early hours after the withdrawal of the Israeli forces, as residents discover the extent of destruction left by the Israeli raid.
UN has failed us, says Jenin mayor
The mayor of Jenin, Nidal Obeidi, says that the United Nations and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) have failed his city.
As the main administrators of Jenin, they have failed to provide any support in the face of Israel’s large-scale raid, he said.
“They have failed us and let us down,” Obeidi told Al Jazeera, adding that the agencies have “washed their hands” of any responsibility.
The municipality of Jenin is now taking responsibility for providing support in the aftermath of the raid, the mayor adding that he is working side by side with the crews rebuilding the destroyed refugee camp.
The damage to Jenin is heavy, Obeidi said, with infrastructure from pipelines to the sewage system and electrical lines, destroyed.
80% of homes in Jenin damaged
Almost 80 percent of houses in Jenin have been damaged by Israel’s raid in the past 48 hours, the city’s deputy governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told the Turkish Anadolu news agency.
“Houses and infrastructure suffered heavy damage in the offensive,” Kamal Abu al-Rub said. “Almost 80 percent of houses in the Jenin refugee camp were either destroyed, damaged or burnt.”
The governor also said that dozens of vehicles and utility lines were damaged in the Israeli raid.
Palestinians flooded the streets of Jenin this morning to pray for those who died in Israel's military assault on the camp, which killed 12 Palestinians.
Angry Palestinians attacked the Palestinian Authority (PA) headquarters in Jenin, shortly after the Israeli forces withdrew from the camp.
Local sources confirmed to Al Araby Al Jadeed that hundreds of angry Palestinians attacked the security vehicles of the authority and the district headquarters with stones and empty bottles.
They chanted slogans against the PA and criticised its officials for "hiding" instead of coming out to protect the camp during the Israeli military assault.
Palestinian security forces used tear gas and sound grenades to disperse protesters.
Thousands of residents of the Jenin camp began returning to their homes late on Tuesday amid complete darkness due to a total power outage.
Their return came after the Israeli forces withdrew from inside the camp while maintaining their presence on the outskirts of Jenin city and at several points inside it.
The atmosphere was described by Al Araby Al Jadeed's correspondent in the West Bank as one of high tension and anticipation.
