At the entrance to Jenin refugee camp, some residents of the occupied West Bank town watched from a safe distance as Palestinian ambulances and Israeli military vehicles moved in and out. Others walked out, with tired faces and their few belongings in their hands.

Ala'a Aboushi, who lives at the entrance to the camp, handed out small paper cups of black Arabic coffee to journalists watching the scene. "They are done with Gaza, and now they came here to us in the West Bank to take revenge on us," he told DW. "As civilians we don't feel any safety here."

On January 21, just after the temporary ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza came into effect, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a "large-scale and significant military operation" in Jeninin the occupied West Bank against Palestinian militants. The refugee camp is considered by Israel as a stronghold for those militants.

Since then, the new Israeli military offensive has gradually expanded to other towns and villages in the area — such as Tulkarem, another major city in the north-west of the West Bank. The city is home to two refugee camps, Tulkarem and Nur Shams, built in the aftermath of Israel's creation in 1948 to house displaced Palestinians.

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