West Bank violence undermining Gaza ceasefire: UNRWA

Escalating hostilities in the occupied West Bank are putting the fragile ceasefire in Gaza at risk, the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, warned in a statement on Monday. 

It comes a day after Israeli Security Forces (ISF) carried out a series of controlled detonations at the Jenin refugee camp, located in the northern West Bank, destroying large areas there “in a split second”.

UNRWA said it received no prior warning of the explosions “as contact between staff and Israeli authorities is no longer permitted - putting civilian lives at risk.”  

‘A ghost town’

The agency said residents of the camp “have endured the impossible, facing nearly two months of unceasing and escalating violence,” adding that Jenin “has been rendered a ghost town” in the past months. 

“The operations conducted both by Israeli and Palestinian security forces have led to the forced displacement of thousands of camp residents, many of whom will now have nowhere to return to,” it said. “The basics of life are gone.”

UNRWA noted that “on a day that was supposed to mark the beginning of the new school semester for thousands of children, 13 schools in the northern West Bank remained closed due to ISF operations in the area.”

Ceasefire undermined

Furthermore, its services inside Jenin camp have been interrupted for months and stopped completely in early December.

“Today’s shocking scenes in the West Bank undermine the fragile ceasefire reached in Gaza, and risk a new escalation,” the agency said.

The first phase of the temporary truce and hostage release deal came into effect two weeks ago, following 15 months of war which killed some 46,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health authorities.

The conflict was sparked by the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel. Some 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken as hostages.

In October 2024, the Israeli parliament adopted two laws banning UNRWA’s operations in its territory and prohibiting Israeli authorities from having any contact with the agency, which went into force last Thursday.