JENIN / Story by Yara Mansour PNN Crospandant
Palestinian women from the Jenin Refugee Camp were overcome with grief on Monday after Israeli soldiers barred many of them from returning to their homes inside the camp, despite prior notification that the military would allow a limited number to enter for 40 minutes.
According to information shared with Palestinian civil liaison officers, Israeli forces had agreed to grant women access to a few alleyways and neighbourhoods of the camp. However, most of the women were turned back at the checkpoint after undergoing invasive and humiliating searches.
Tears welled up as they returned, many having held onto hope of simply catching a glimpse of their homes—now silent beneath rubble and destruction, places once filled with life and community spirit.
A Painful Journey Marked by Hope and Fear
Among those turned away was Jamila Masharqa, who had rushed to the camp upon hearing that some families would be allowed brief visits to their homes for the first time since their displacement. Speaking to PNN, Masharqa said she came not to collect belongings, but simply to witness what remained of her house.
“I knew the camp would be full of soldiers,” she said, “but I just wanted to see my home. We came hoping we’d be allowed in. But many of us returned defeated, our hopes crushed.”
Months of waiting had built toward this moment—a chance to return, however briefly. But for many, like Malak Masharqa, that moment ended in heartbreak at the camp’s gate. She told PNN she had been informed she would be granted a 40-minute visit. Displaced and now living in temporary student housing, she reached the entrance only to be told her name was not on the approved list, and access was limited only to women from the Hawashin neighbourhood.
Fighting back tears, she said, “I wasn’t going to collect anything. I just wanted to see the alleyways, my home—what’s left of it. But even that was too much to ask.”
Her hopes, like those of many others, collapsed as members of the Palestinian Red Crescent accompanied the women back. Eyes full of tears told the story: their dreams, memories, and sense of belonging, reduced to dust beneath the ruins of their homes—destroyed in recent military raids—and further buried by a policy that denied them even a moment of reconnection.
For Those Who Entered, Grief Took New Shape
Nadia Fayed, one of the few allowed to re-enter the camp, described the experience as deeply traumatic. She told PNN she was subjected to humiliating body searches by Israeli female soldiers inside one of the homes near the checkpoint.
Navigating her way through mounds of debris, Fayed eventually reached the square in Hawashin, under the watchful eyes of Israeli troops. There, she found what used to be her house—now flattened, its contents reduced to unrecognisable fragments.
“The bulldozers had piled everything into a mountain of rubble,” she said. “I couldn’t retrieve anything. I left empty-handed. My home, my life—gone.”
Fayed said some women whose homes remained partially intact were able to retrieve a few personal items or clothes. But soldiers mocked them when they attempted to take heavier objects, such as gas canisters or kitchen utensils, barring them from doing so.
Between the Ruins: A Momentary Return, Heavy with Meaning
Those who managed to walk through the shattered remains of the camp described their short visit as emotionally overwhelming. “It felt like we were searching for ourselves in the wreckage,” one woman said. “Every corner held a memory. Every pile of rubble held a piece of our past.”
Despite the temporary nature of their access, the women described the visit as a soul-deep reminder of what was lost—and of what still calls to them.
“In just a few minutes, we felt something we hadn’t felt in six months,” one woman said. “As if the camp itself whispered to us: I’m still here. Even from beneath the rubble.”
