Daily life is slowly returning to the Jenin refugee camp after a brutal two-day assault by Israeli forces that killed at least 12 Palestinians, including several minors.

One Israeli soldier was killed in the operation in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The offensive used rare drone and helicopter gunship attacks and deployed 1,000 Israeli soldiers who took over people’s homes and broke through the walls of the tightly packed houses to move around the camp.

Jenin refugee camp is very densely populated, with 11,200 people living in close quarters on less than half a square kilometre (0.2sq miles) with no green public spaces at all.

A day after the assault began, thousands of people fled the camp, seeking safety wherever they could. Now, they are slowly returning to their homes, rebuilding what they can.

The people of the camp are poor, with the unemployment rate there among the highest of the refugee camps in the occupied West Bank. To recover from Israel’s most devastating military offensive on the densely populated camp in about 20 years will take them lots of time.

The United Nations has said the assault constituted the collective punishment of Palestinians and may amount to a war crime.