As we drive into the Jenin refugee camp, we pass a large public building. “That’s the camp’s hospital,” says Col. A, the commander of the Menashe Territorial Brigade. With relative indifference, he adds, “We know there are still terrorists hiding there, and we’ll find a way to get them out. It’s not urgent for now.”
Unlike previous IDF operations in the Jenin refugee camp, this mission has no time constraints and no set end date. Unlike past operations in Jenin, Tulkarem, and the surrounding villages, this is not a swift counterterrorism raid where forces enter, neutralize a target, and withdraw. The current mission, or rather, Operation Iron Wall, is aimed at systematically dismantling terrorist strongholds in the northern West Bank. This requires manpower and time.
Since the war began in October 2023, Col. A has led 45 counterterrorism operations inside the Jenin refugee camp, referred to in military shorthand as “M.P.” (mahane plitim, Hebrew for refugee camp) These past operations, including Operation Home and Garden in the summer of 2023, lasted only a few days. Now, forces have been in the camp for more than two weeks, systematically targeting both human and physical terrorist infrastructure.
Walking through the narrow alleys of the Jenin refugee camp, it becomes clear why it is considered the terrorism capital of the northern West Bank. One key reason is its strategic location in Area A, under full Palestinian Authority control, near Israeli and Arab towns such as Afula and Megiddo, and close to the Jordan Valley. Before the war, Jenin enjoyed economic prosperity while also benefiting from massive arms smuggling across the porous Jordanian border, just a few dozen kilometers away.
However, the historical legacy embedded in the camp is just as crucial. The walls are covered in graffiti depicting terrorist narratives, indoctrinating residents from birth. “Look at this depiction of the ‘key narrative,’” Col. A says, pointing to a mural. It features familiar symbols such as the Al-Aqsa Mosque and a map of Palestine, with a child carrying a massive key like a rifle. “The key represents the claim of camp residents—even those of the third or fourth generation—to return to their ancestors' homes in Haifa and its surroundings,” he explains.
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The camp's 12,000 residents are mostly descendants of Haifa-area refugees who fled in 1948, settling on the hills above Jenin. Only the lower section of the camp extends into the city’s outskirts. Most buildings cling to steep slopes, making the alleys difficult to navigate on foot and nearly impossible for vehicles. As part of Operation Iron Wall, one of the first things the Israeli military did was carve out wide roads to facilitate rapid troop movement, including tanks, armored personnel carriers, and bulldozers. The D9 bulldozers, crucial in urban warfare, played a decisive role in breaking through.
The use of bulldozers to open combat routes is not new. In 1971, then-Southern Command head Ariel Sharon employed a similar tactic to suppress the first wave of Gaza terrorism, demolishing buildings and clearing roads in the Jabalia and Shati refugee camps. As part of that campaign, Sharon relocated 1,600 Palestinian families whose homes had been destroyed, offering them resettlement options in Gaza and El-Arish. The aim was to dilute both the refugee camp population and its terrorist elements—a move that proved successful.
A Network of bombs and surveillance
Currently, a brigade combat team under Col. A’s command is focused on dismantling Jenin’s terrorist infrastructure, specifically targeting the network of roadside bombs and command centers established by the Jenin Battalion to attack Israeli forces and launch terror strikes into Israel. These explosives, despite being mostly homemade, have grown increasingly sophisticated. Like in Gaza, these IEDs remain the deadliest threat to Israeli forces.
But the bombs are just the tip of the iceberg. Behind them lies a well-coordinated command-and-control system operated from multiple war rooms, using surveillance cameras positioned throughout the camp. These cameras allow terrorists to track Israeli troops, detonate explosives remotely, and issue alerts in real time. As we walk through the camp, we see remnants of these cameras, neutralized by the IDF, as well as large tarps terrorists had stretched over the streets to block Israeli drones from spotting their bomb placements.
Some of these roadside bombs contain hundreds of kilograms of explosives, requiring significant time and effort to bury beneath roadways and repave the surface. Several such devices have already detonated beneath Panther armored vehicles, causing casualties. In fact, IEDs have been the primary cause of Israeli troop casualties in Jenin.
Given the camp's extensive fortifications, previous pinpoint operations based on precise intelligence allowed the IDF to eliminate terrorists and thwart attacks before they were carried out. However, the Jenin Battalion remained intact, continuing its operations alongside terrorist cells in Tulkarem and surrounding villages.
Jenin remains the epicenter of Palestinian terrorism, home to a coalition of terrorist factions under the Jenin Battalion, primarily led by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Even the secular, Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) follows PIJ’s command. They call themselves “Abnaa al-Mukhayyam”—the Sons of the Camp.
The reign of extremism
The camp's walls are filled with graffiti mocking Yasser Arafat for signing the Oslo Accords, depicting him as a woman. One mural shows a woman holding a map of Palestine, telling Arafat, “Palestine will be great, and you are small.” This extreme ideology has allowed Palestinian Islamic Jihad to organize an actual military unit with a structured chain of command. Years of limited IDF presence and a complete absence of Palestinian Authority security forces enabled the battalion to build a sophisticated command system, controlling the camp with an iron grip.
Hezbollah recognized the battalion’s potential early on, securing Iranian funding and weapons for the group. These "investments" have paid off, creating a well-equipped terrorist force that the IDF is now working to dismantle. “We are targeting both the personnel and the infrastructure they built,” Col. A says. “We don’t demolish buildings at random. Where there’s doubt, we hold back. But weapons labs and terrorist positions will not remain standing.”
As we drive, we spot a team of four wearing red uniforms with Red Crescent emblems, riding all-terrain vehicles. These are Palestinian search-and-rescue workers, permitted by the IDF to look for survivors in buildings that were destroyed. “They won’t find anyone,” Col. A says, “because we thoroughly check buildings before demolishing them.”
Memories of the fierce 2002 Battle of Jenin, the bloodiest fight of Operation Defensive Shield, flash through my mind. Back then, D9 bulldozers played a decisive role in breaking terrorist resistance. “This is what they call ‘Death Alley,’” Col. A says as we arrive at a narrow passage. “Here, 13 of our soldiers were killed in an ambush. The terrorists rebuilt the area exactly as it was, both to preserve their legacy and to hinder our movements.”
Despite ongoing efforts, Col. A knows the mission will take time. The key to long-term stability, he says, is not just eliminating terrorists but blocking the weapons and funding that sustain them. Until then, the battle continues.