Israel's stranglehold on Jenin

About 150 Israeli Arab medics gathered at the main Walajeh checkpoint into Jenin early on Wednesday morning.

They hoped to gain access to the city and the Jenin refugee camp which the Red Cross has described as "resembling an earthquake zone".

On a hot, dusty day, doctors in clean white smocks, many with stethoscopes at the ready on their necks and their medical cases in hand, milled about the checkpoint for more than two hours.

They had a lorry and minibus packed with all kinds of medical supplies.

A delegation representing them argued, cajoled, gently harassed and sometimes shouted at the commanding Israel Defence Forces (IDF) officer at the checkpoint to let them through.

According to the IDF, the whole of Jenin was again a closed military zone and no one apart from soldiers and settlers who lived beyond the checkpoint was getting through.