By Diana Khwaelid | Tulkarem – West Bank | October 2, 2025
It is evidently not enough for Israel to “only” deport more than 90% of the residents of the Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern West Bank. The deportations are happening now, coinciding with the launch of a massive military operation on the North Bank refugee camps, including the Tulkarem camp, for about the past eight months.
This evening, an Israeli military force stormed up to some Palestinian houses in the Hadayda neighborhood of Tulkarem camp at gunpoint and ordered the residents to leave. By this method, more than ten Palestinian families were forcibly displaced from the Hadayda neighborhood, with claims that they were in a closed military zone and that it was supposedly for their safety.
I spoke with one of the Palestinians who were displaced from the camp, who declined to give his real name for fear of being arrested by the Israeli occupation forces. Abu Yahya, 54, is married and has children.
Abu Yahya said, “This is not the first time I have been displaced from the camp but the fourth time. And every time I went out and came back.” He added that the Israeli forces allowed him to stay at his house at first, because the location of his house is far from the areas where the Israeli forces operate inside the camp, but the forces later changed their mind and asked him and his family to leave his house.
He continued by saying that “the soldiers claim that it is a closed military zone and that we are not allowed to be in it. The decision to leave our homes is not voluntary, but mandatory.”
Muhannad Abu Taha, another displaced person, is married and has a family from the Hadayda neighborhood.
He reported, “What Happened was that the Israeli forces broke into the house and took us out of our house.” He added that the commander of the army battalion told him: “It is forbidden to return to your house, and if you return, we will burn the house and those in it.”
Abu Taha continued, “They broke the furniture of the house and did not allow us to take some necessities, such as clothes, and others.”
Another woman, Heba Ghanem, was displaced from her home along with her family, including her elderly mother and her son, Mahmoud, who is only two years old.
She related, “A group of military personnel suddenly broke into the house. They broke down the doors, one of the soldiers told them. They didn’t wait for anyone to open the door, so they broke down the door and went in.” She further described the event: “They did not take into account anyone’s feelings or privacy at home. I am pregnant, and I have children. They wouldn’t let us take some personal items, and they even refused to let me bring shoes for my little boy.”
Ghanem continued and said: “About three weeks ago my son Mahmoud, who is only two years old, suffered an injury to his nose when trying to move us out of the house last time. And he still suffers from fear and phobias, because of the Israeli occupation that breaks into our homes.”