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.
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.
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'
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.
