The Israeli military operation against the Jenin refugee camp is the largest since the 2000-2005 Second Intifada, a mass Palestinian uprising against Israel’s decades-long occupation.

At least eight Palestinians have been killed so far in Jenin, including two children. Israeli forces also shot a ninth Palestinian dead near Ramallah.

Here’s what you should know about Jenin, a focal point of conflict between Israeli forces and Palestinians.

Refugee camp

• A city in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Jenin houses a crowded refugee camp by the same name with a population of some 14,000 people.
• Residents of the Jenin camp are descendants of Palestinians dispossessed of their land and homes when the state of Israel was created in 1948.
• Jenin has one of the highest rates of unemployment and poverty among 19 refugee camps in the occupied West Bank, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Fighting

• In 2002, Israel launched a major assault on the Jenin refugee camp, which was the scene of some of the worst violence during the Second Intifada.
• A UN report issued in August 2002, said 52 Palestinians were killed in Jenin, with as many as half being civilians.
• Israel lost 23 soldiers in Jenin.
• The report listed more Israeli than Palestinian abuses, especially Israel’s refusal to let humanitarian workers enter the camp. But it also said Palestinian fighters were located in civilian homes.
• More than 400 homes were destroyed during the Israeli assault and more than a quarter of the population was left homeless, according to UNRWA, which coordinated and implemented the reconstruction of the camp.

Renewed violence