Mohammed Rahal spent a year and a half displaced after the Israeli army forced him from his home in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
Eventually, the Palestinian father bought a new house on the edge of the camp. After months of painstaking work preparing it for his large family, Israeli soldiers came knocking once again.
This time, they told him he had to leave so the house could be used as a military outpost for the next two months.
“Sometimes I worked 20 hours a day preparing the house,” Rahal told Middle East Eye. “I was hoping for stability and peace after the hardship of displacement.”
The Israeli military’s use of civilian homes as military positions has become increasingly common in the occupied West Bank.
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The practice has intensified since October 2023 alongside Israel’s escalating crackdown across the territory.
In early 2025, the Israeli army launched a large-scale offensive in Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas. The operation devastated refugee camps across the northern West Bank, with homes demolished, burned or requisitioned by soldiers.
Nearly 40,000 Palestinians were displaced, most of them from Jenin refugee camp.
Human rights groups and experts have accused Israel of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank assault.
Ordered to leave
Rahal and his family were among those forced out when the assault began in January 2025.
“My family, my five brothers and their families all lived in the same building inside the camp,” he said. “When the military operation started, we had to flee because the building was damaged and partially destroyed.”
For the next 14 months, the family lived in student accommodation at the Arab American University, which Rahal described as difficult and overcrowded.
Determined to rebuild their lives, he and his sons pooled their resources to buy a house in the nearby Jabriyat neighbourhood, overlooking the camp.
‘Even though the order is for two months, the occupation is unpredictable’
– Mohammed Rahal, Jenin resident
The property sits on the edge of a seven-dunum plot of land that Israel seized in May, despite it being located in Area A under the Oslo Accords, an area officially administered by the Palestinian Authority.
Just two months after moving in, Israeli soldiers arrived at the house on Tuesday and ordered Rahal to leave within 10 minutes.
Following discussions with the family, the soldiers extended the deadline until Thursday morning.
Rahal spent the next two days hurriedly removing furniture and belongings he had spent weeks buying and arranging.
Now, he can only wait for the military order to expire on 23 August and hope he will be allowed to return.
But after everything his family has endured, he has little confidence that the house will be handed back as promised.
“Even though the order is for two months, the occupation is unpredictable,” he said.
“They could extend the takeover for another period, and then another, until the house is seized permanently.”
Nowhere to go
Next door, Fidaa Abu al-Haija received a similar order to vacate her home.
Residents believe the Israeli army is preparing to establish a military camp on the land it recently confiscated between the houses. Many fear the takeover will spread beyond a handful of properties and eventually encompass the entire neighbourhood.
Abu al-Haija’s home overlooks the seized land, reinforcing fears that the military presence is intended to be long-term.
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She lives there with her three children while her husband has been imprisoned by Israel for nearly four years.
A similar expulsion order was issued for the nearby home of her brother-in-law, Abdel Salam, who has also been imprisoned for more than four years. His family of four must leave as well.
Even before the latest order, Abu al-Haija said, soldiers frequently raided the house during the assault on Jenin, frightening her children and leaving rooms damaged. Much of the furniture is now unusable.
“At times I had to turn back halfway home from work because soldiers were everywhere,” she recalled. “I knew they wouldn’t leave me alone.”
The formal expulsion order, however, marks a new escalation and has fuelled fears that the takeover could become permanent.
With her husband’s family home inside Jenin camp already destroyed, Abu al-Haija said she has nowhere else to go.
Speaking to MEE as workers hurriedly removed furniture from her house, she said she was now searching for a rental property while trying to salvage what remained of her family’s life.
“The furniture is piled up outside because I want to save it before it’s destroyed,” she said.
“We’ve been living through this tragic situation for more than a year.”
‘Ghost town’
The Jabriyat neighbourhood overlooks Jenin refugee camp, making it strategically valuable to Israeli forces and increasingly vulnerable to home seizures.
Mu’tasim Istaiti lives nearby and fears his home could be next.
His family spent more than a year displaced after soldiers occupied their house during the assault on the camp. He later returned in an attempt to protect it.
‘We fear the displacement of these families will become permanent’
– Mohammad Jarrar, mayor of Jenin
“Since we came back, it feels like we’re living in a ghost town,” he said. “All we hear are military vehicles. This used to be a vibrant neighbourhood. Now it’s almost deserted.”
Concerned for their safety, Istaiti rarely allows his children to leave the house alone.
The army has also blocked the main access road with barbed wire, forcing residents onto a rough alternative route.
“We know staying here is dangerous, but we want to protect our homes until the very last moment,” he said.
“We don’t know what the future holds for our children and us after the decision to confiscate the land near us.”
Mohammad Jarrar, mayor of Jenin, said Jabriyat is one of the city’s largest neighbourhoods, home to around 10,000 Palestinians.
Because parts of the area overlook the refugee camp, a growing number of homes have been seized. At least 15 families in Jabriyat have been forced from their homes there since the assault began.
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Jarar said Israeli restrictions have also prevented municipal crews from reaching some neighbourhoods near the camp to provide basic services to many families still living there.
In one area, he said, a damaged sewage pipe has flooded streets and created a health hazard, but municipal workers have been unable to access the site.
“We fear the displacement of these families will become permanent,” Jarar told MEE. “The occupation appears intent on displacing as many residents as possible out of the neighbourhoods surrounding the camp.”
According to the municipality, around 800 families have now been displaced from neighbourhoods across Jenin city, excluding the refugee camp itself.
“Even those who remain are being pressured through the withholding of services,” Jarar added.
“The aim is to make life so difficult that people leave on their own.”
