It had only been a week since the young man Yassin Hassan from Jenin camp bought the cart he used as a street vendor in the markets of Jenin, until it was crushed by Israeli tanks during its recent aggression, during which dozens of stalls and several shops in the city center were burned and destroyed.

With sadness and emotion, Yassin tells “Y”: “My family and I had hardly been happy with the provision of a source of income to live on, when the occupation destroyed our lives and our source of livelihood. The stalls were parked in the market, far from the main street. They did not pose an obstacle to the patrols, and no incidents or confrontations occurred in their vicinity. Despite that, they targeted them, deliberately burning and destroying them.”

He added: It is a catastrophe and a great calamity for us. We no longer have a means of work, and I cannot buy another vehicle, and there is no one to compensate us. What law or Sharia permits this?

Al-Quds correspondent reported that the bulldozers, while destroying the streets and infrastructure, attacked the street market in the middle of the city without any reason. The soldiers burned the street stalls and carts, and the bulldozers completed the destruction of a large number of them.

The street vendor Maher Samir said that the Israeli crime burned his stall and all the vegetables he had prepared before the aggression, which caused him a huge loss. He said, “We were surprised by the raid before we finished selling our shipment of vegetables and fruits, and we were forced to return to our homes and leave everything, but we were shocked by the sabotage and destruction that affected dozens of stalls, and my losses exceed 10 thousand shekels.”

He added: "I have no other source of income, and my loss is irreplaceable. The stall was burned, and I am no longer able to work. There is no solution for poor people like us."

The fire broke out as a result of the fire caused by the occupation soldiers in several shops. Sadiq Alaa El-Din, the owner of a trinket shop, said: “Within minutes, everything was burned. The bulldozers and the army deliberately started the fire that destroyed our lives. Everything in my shop was burned and no one will compensate me. There was no justification for this serious crime that doubled our losses in light of the deteriorating economic situation.” Jaafar Mansour, the owner of a clothing stall, added: “Within minutes, the stall was burned and I lost everything. My whole life is linked to this stall, which is the livelihood of my family of 7 people. What happened was a serious assault and threat, and collective punishment and revenge against all of us.”

Throughout the days of aggression, the Israeli war machine continued to punish the people of Jenin in an unprecedented manner, as they suffered from power, water, communications and internet outages. Bulldozers deliberately destroyed shops and their surroundings, and did not stop at the streets.

Citizen Asaad Hussein, owner of a clothing store, said: “The bulldozers completely destroyed my shop for no reason. In a matter of minutes, they swept away the hardship and suffering of 20 years. We have nothing left, and my loss is huge and irreplaceable.”

The scene was no different at Mamoun Sharif’s grocery store. A bulldozer attacked it and threw all the materials inside onto the street, completely crushing them. He said: “God is greater than this injustice and aggression. There is no justification for destroying my shop. It is clear that they targeted us to punish us and take revenge on Jenin and its camp. This means destroying all the components of our lives. Even if we receive compensation, my grocery store, which supports three families, cannot return to how it was. Despite that, thank God, we have no choice but to be patient.”

The head of the Chamber of Commerce, Ammar Abu Bakr, stated that the occupation inflicted heavy losses on Jenin in all sectors during the unprecedented aggression, as no means of livelihood and people’s lives remained that were not deliberately destroyed.

He told Quds: "It is clear that there is a programmed plan to destroy Jenin and the people's economy, which has been suffering from collapse and major losses since the restrictions and strict measures imposed since October 7."

He added: "The occupation has turned Jenin Governorate into a disaster area in every sense of the word, and has caused comprehensive destruction to the main commercial square and its surroundings. We are still assessing its consequences, which are considered dangerous and constitute a new disaster for the Jenin economy."

He continued: "We cannot escape the effects of this real catastrophe in light of the unprecedented collapse that Jenin has been exposed to over the past two years. It is clear that the occupation wants the Jenin Governorate to remain in a state of paralysis, stagnation, collapse and total destruction."

Street vendors and stall owners in Jenin's main market suffered huge losses, as all vegetables and fruits were spoiled due to the closure and siege.

Saleh Hosni, a stall owner, said: “All the stalls were loaded with goods, and because of the aggression, the Hisbah was closed and we left everything, which caused every stall owner a huge loss.”

Othman Saleh, the owner of a large stall, added: “My losses from damaged goods exceed 10,000 shekels, and are compounded by the loss of working days due to the closure. We no longer have a source of income, and many debts have accumulated on us.”

The closure caused losses to hundreds of shops due to the power outage, such as the owner of a frozen meat shop, Wajdi Firas, who told Quds: “The aggression coincided with Tuesday in the middle of the week, while we were preparing all the meat and frozen products until the end of the week. After we closed and the power outage, all the items were damaged and I lost goods worth 50 thousand shekels.”

He added: "All meat, poultry and frozen food shops suffered huge losses, and this confirms that the occupation's bombing of the electricity networks, which led to the outage, was deliberate and aimed at destroying us economically."