Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Syria, and in Lebanon. Who will hold them accountable for their crimes?
By Diana Khwaelid | December 27, 2024 | Tulkarem, West Bank
Nine Palestinian were martyred last week in Tulkarem and neighbouring cities during an Israeli military operation in refugee camps in the West Bank. On December 24, Israel launched a military campaign in several cities and camps in the northern West Bank, including Tamoun in Tubas city, Al-Ain camp in Nablus, al-Amari camp in Ramallah, Qalqilya and Tulkarem.
The bodies of the nine Palestinian martyrs in the morgue.
In the city of Tulkarem, the Israeli occupation’s military operation destroyed roads and infrastructure as well as houses and private property in the Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps. The operation lasted for more than 43 consecutive hours, during which the occupation killed nine Palestinians, including two women and a child.
Tulkarem Camp:
Destruction in the Tulkarem camp after the Israeli incursion.
Israeli occupation bulldozers destroyed much of the camp’s infrastructure, which had already been severely damaged during the previous Israeli military incursions. They also targeted the camp citizens’ property, including shops, cars, and houses. Palestinian inhabitants of the Tulkarem camp often describe it as having become a microcosm of what is happening in Gaza.
Military vehicles during the Israeli incursion in Tulkarem.
The municipality and the Palestinian Civil Defense crews are trying to repair the destroyed infrastructure, streets, houses, and water pipes — as much as is possible.
Nur shams camp:
The Israeli incursion in Nur Shams camp.
In the Nur Shams camp, the Israeli occupation bulldozers destroyed the property of citizens along al-Sikka Street-Nablus Street and several shops, including a pharmacy. The Israeli incursion has made the day-to-day unlivable for the residents of the camps in Tulkarm and Nur Shams.
In the past year, the Israeli occupation has been brutally targeting Palestinian populations. Military operations waged by Israel in the West Bank camps threaten the future of Palestinian refugees and their homes.
A young Palestinian girl in her home in Tulkarem.
The National Action factions declared a state of mourning for the city of Tulkarem following these massacres in both Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps. The nine martyrs were mourned, seven of them from Tulkarem camp, another from Nur Shams camp and another in the town of Gavin. They added: “An Israeli warplane targeted Palestinians in the Tulkarm camp, paying no attention to children playing or being near their homes, nor to women.”
Farewell to one of the young martyrs.
The names of the martyrs are Mrs. Khawla Abdo, Baraa Al Attar, Fathi Salem, Mahmin Al- Akhras, Mahmoud Amar, Ahmed Amarna, Omran Haroun, Qusay Okasha, Jumaa Salem.
The sister of the martyr Fathi Salem mourns her brother.
According to the Palestinian Health Organization and the Shirin Abu Akila Observatory, the number of Palestinian martyrs in the West Bank since October 7 has reached 835 martyrs, 196 of which in Tulkarem.
Six Palestinians were killed in Israeli operations in Tulkarem and Balata camps in less than three hours on the morning of Thursday 19 December.
Four Palestinian youths were killed by Israeli forces in Tulkarem camp, in the latest of a string of outrages there.
At noon on Thursday 19 December, a civilian car carrying four Palestinians in the Al-Balawneh neighborhood of Tulkarem Camp exploded, killing the four passengers.
Photos: The car that was targeted
Eyewitnesses from Balawneh said that at around 1:30pm they heard the blast and saw a car in flames with four young men inside.
Thaer Sheikh Ali was at home at the time of the explosion. He describes it as powerful. He went out to see what happened, and says, “The bodies of the martyrs in the car were completely burned to the point that their shapes changed.” He adds that he saw an injured Palestinian on the ground, who was then taken to hospital.
Photo: Farewell to the martyrs in the refrigerators
According to the Palestinian eyewitnesses, they tried hard to extinguish the flames. Palestinian medical teams rushed to the scene to retrieve the bodies of the four martyrs from inside the car.
Balawneh is a busy neighborhood bustling with Palestinian residents and houses. That did not prevent the occupation forces from targeting the car.
On the same day, the Israeli occupation forces stormed Tulkarem with bulldozers in a five-hour destruction operation in both Balawneh and Okasha neighborhoods.
Photo: A farewell to one of the martyrs
The Tulkarem refugee camp in Tulkarem City has seen many killings by the occupation forces, especially since 7 October last year. The lengthening list of martyrs causes deep sadness in the camp. These latest four are described as “the most beautiful ornaments of the camp”.
The National Action factions in the city of Tulkarem declared a period of mourning across the city for the four youths.
Photo: A farewell to one of the martyrs
Balata Camp
On the same Thursday morning, the Israeli occupation forces stormed the Balata camp east of the city of Nablus to arrest a Palestinian militant in the camp. They failed, but Israeli snipers, while stationed in the camp, opened fire on unarmed civilians in the camp – killing, according to the Palestinian Health Organization, two Palestinians, including 80-year-old elderly woman. These are two more martyrs in the intensive attacks on this part of the West Bank.
Photos: Israeli military vehicles move during the storming of Tulkarm and the camp
His face is hollowed out, white skin pulled over prominent cheekbones. The eyes, tired but wide open, never stop. Abed just got out of Al-Naqab prison in southern Israel five days ago. He still can’t believe it.
“I lost 60 kilos in less than a year.” He shows a giant picture of himself hanging in the lobby: a fleshy, muscular man, smiling with a small child in his arms. “That’s my daughter, that’s me. It’s been a year.” The man in front of me looks like the specter of the hanging image. Even the little girl zomping behind us doesn’t seem to recognize him: when her father calls her name, she throws herself into her cousin’s arms, almost frightened. “My daughter when she first saw me was hiding, calling me uncle. It was so sad.”
Abed’s message to the world
Abed is 28 years old and was a baker by trade. They arrested him last December in a night raid where the Israeli military stormed his home by breaking down his door, smashing several pieces of furniture and windows. And they took him away. He would never hear from his family or have any contact with the outside world again until November 30, 2024.
We are at his home in the refugee camp in Jenin, perhaps the city most affected by Israeli attacks in the West Bank over the past year. To get there, one has to travel several roads flooded with mud and water, with a panoramic view of piles of debris and damaged or demolished houses. Indeed, the destruction by Tel Aviv’s D9s and bulldozers has spared no infrastructure in the camp, which is considered by Israel to be one of the strongholds of resistance in the West Bank: every road, as well as the water and electricity systems, have been systematically and methodically devastated.
“They arrested me only because I am Palestinian,” begins the account of Abed, who is at pains to emphasize that he was not linked to any party and was not part of the resistance. “The conditions under which they kept us were terrible. I don’t know if I will be able to talk about what I experienced… even animals are not kept like that.” But then, he is a river of words.
“They gave me shampoo six times in a year,” he recounts. “We could shower, but they wouldn’t give us anything to wash with.” Before October 7, life for Palestinians in prison was different. Then the detainees suffered Israel’s revenge on their skin. “We became numbers. They called us by number all the time.” He shows us, it was written in marker on his ID card. It must have been seven to eight digits; reading it feels like going back to moments in history that one hoped had been surpassed. “The first day they gave me a plastic plate, spoon and fork, the disposable kind. I had to use it for a year.” He smiles. “It’s crazy, but when I went out, I wanted to take them with me. I don’t know how to use the real ones anymore.”
There were 14 of them living in a cell that was made for nine people. They slept without mattresses, in beds as hard as stones or on the floor, cramped together to keep warm. “We didn’t have enough clothes, and they didn’t give us anything to cover ourselves. People would make socks by cutting pieces from the blankets.” Abed continued, “When they brought us food, it was not enough for human beings. It was not enough to survive… I lost 60 kg, but if my situation in prison was not so good, the condition of many others was worse.”
News from outside the prison came only when new inmates arrived. There was no contact with the outside world. “Since October 7, they took everything away: no TV, no books, no newspapers, no visits, no letters to family members, no contact with the lawyer.” Not even the hearings were an opportunity to meet the lawyer, or a friendly face. “There was no real court, it was a room, they moved everything online.” He adds: “Every time they moved us from the cell to that room, or somewhere else, we knew we would not come back healthy.” Beatings were the norm, and they could also come during the many searches or counts they did of inmates in cells.
“I have scabies. Almost everyone in prison has scabies, at least 90 percent… I had it all over my body… it was not normal. They didn’t give us medicine. It was torture.” He then talks about a weird episode. “Once they finally sent me to the ‘doctor’ – in prison there was no hospital, and anyway they didn’t give you anything… there was a group of people who were not Israelis, they were international. I asked one of these ‘doctors’ where he was from, he told me [he was] French; he didn’t help me. Sometimes I think they were doing tests on us, like we were animals.”
He repeats several times, “I just want to be considered a human being, it doesn’t matter that I am Palestinian, I am a human being.”
He shows us video of when he was released from prison a few days ago. When he was released, he was greeted by a crowd of his family and friends, where he hugged his mother and he cried. “For a year, I never cried. But as soon as I saw my mother, I cried,” he recounts. “My mother was sick. I could never write to her. But whenever I had a chance to see the moon from my cell, I sent her a message through the moon…”
At least 47 inmates have died in Israeli prisons since Oct. 7 due to torture or lack of treatment by Israel. I ask him if he has witnessed such incidents. He seethes. “One of these 47 was in my cell,” he says. “They brought him, who was already beaten to a pulp; he was injured. They had moved him there. Then they beat him again. At night they came in and counted us, they did that a lot. It was winter, it was cold. He was still lying on the ground, because he was sick, he couldn’t get up. I remember seeing blood coming out of his chest, I think he had internal bleeding but also external bleeding, he was bleeding. The police picked him up and carried him out of the cell, I could see him. They left him there in the open for hours and hours. It took him six hours to die. In front of my eyes.” They wanted to kill him, he says between the lines. He was politicized, from the Hamas party. He would not give his name.
He is afraid; he does not want to go back to prison. “I never want to live that condition of life again,” he says. The state of Israel in fact does not forget. Abed points us to Karim, a young boy of perhaps 15 who has been sitting by his side since the start of the chat. “Every time they raid here in the camp, the military enters his house and beats his whole family. This is because a member of his family in the past had relations with the resistance… Even though he is dead, they continue to take revenge and punish the whole family. They beat everyone.”
“Even if we believe in peace, where is the peace? I want peace. Israel does not want peace.”
He asks if he can leave a message for the rest of the world. He takes my notebook and writes in large Arabic characters, underlining the wording several times:
Balata Camp, Nablus | December 12, 2024 | By Diana Khwaelid
The night of December 12 was undoubtedly the saddest night for the family of the young martyr Jihad Abu Salim and the Balata camp.
No one knew that he would rise as a martyr on the night of December 12th, when the Israeli occupying forces stormed the camp and stole his soul, shot him twice, killing him instantly.
The martyr Jihad Yusuf Abu Salim, who is no more than 25 years old, was killed by the Israeli occupation forces during their assault on the Balata refugee camp east of the city of Nablus. The operations and attacks of the Israeli occupation on the cities, villages, and camps of the West Bank have not stopped since October 7. Attacks are especially relentless in the camps, including the Balata camp, which is considered a fertile area for occupation.
Photo: the martyr’s neighbor cries
Jihad left behind three sisters and two brothers, and he was middle rank was among his brothers; he most recently met his family last Wednesday night and ate cheesecakes, as his younger sister Salsabil reported.
The 18-year-old Salsabil Abu Salim is the youngest sister in the family. Salsabil was in a terrible state, still under the shock of losing her brother, and she could hardly speak, even with difficulty. She said: until this moment we could not believe the news of Jihad’s martyrdom and that we had lost him.
She adds: My brother Jihad was like a bond for me in my life, it means my strength. This was her response when I asked her what it means for a sister to lose her brother.
Photo: The relatives of the martyr
At about 10:30 this morning, his body was transferred from Rafidia government hospital with a military reception befitting him as a martyr.
He was taken to his family home for a final farewell viewing by the family, especially the mother and sisters. A state of sadness, despair, helplessness, and oppression was felt by all residents of the camp, especially his family and friends.
Hundreds of Palestinians from the residences of the camp and outside participated in the funeral of the martyr Jihad Abu Salim and his remains were covered with the flag of Palestine and the Palestinian kufya.
Photo: The friends of the martyr
Palestinian participants in the funeral chanted words stating that they would continue to resist the occupation and honor his family with his martyrdom.
According to the Palestinian Health Organization, the number of martyrs in the city of Nablus since the beginning of this year 2024 has reached 49 martyrs total, and 16 martyrs in the Balata camp.
Tubas, Palestine – December 9. Two more people were killed by a drone-launched missile in Tubas, in the northern West Bank. This brings the total number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli military in the West Bank since October 7th, to 810, including 169 children, with more than 6,450 injured. Being one of the bloodiest period in over a decade, as the intensity and scope of the apartheid military occupation has grown rapidly.
Israel army blocking Tubas main road
The incursion began with Israeli Special Forces personnel infiltrating the town in the morning. Shortly after, at least 6 military vehicles blocked Tubas’ main road, occupying it for about 3 and a half hours and preventing the passage of people and vehicles. The military positioned itself with machine guns aimed at houses and stores. They were targeting anyone who tried to approach or pass, firing live ammunition rounds and stun grenades at them. Four people were arrested, blindfolded and held with their hands tied behind their backs before being taken away. One person was released. In the meantime, two drones flew overhead at low altitude to “monitor population movements”. One of the drones killed Khalil Magdi Al-Masri and Udi Radwan Daraghma, who were aged 26 and 32, in the Al-Safah area in the north of the city. The bombs dropped killed them instantly, without warning. The army also seized their bodies, preventing the families from mourning their loved ones.
Blindfolded Palestinians
The Palestine Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian emergency medical team that is a part of the International Red Cross, reports that the military blocked their workers, and were preventing them from accessing the site of the attack and rescuing any wounded. While these violent attacks were happening, several local Palestinian youths placed barricades made of tires and dumpsters on the side streets. This was an attempt to restrict the movement of the military to the road blocked by the Israeli vehicles themselves. This ended one of the (now daily) attacks that the Israeli Army carries out in many West Bank towns and villages. Day and night, the Israeli Army breaks into Palestinian homes to make arrests and searches, or simply to break the peace and safety that communities build together. This is to display to Palestinians that they are living under military occupation.
Palestinians try to restrict the army movement
The low-intensity war Israel is carrying out in the West Bank is claiming victims daily: in the small town of Tubas alone, 66 people have now been killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces since October 7th, 2023. Several dozen others have been arrested.
A few days earlier, the town of Tubas was the target of another violent Israeli raid: on Tuesday, Dec. 3, Tel Aviv’s military raided the Turkish hospital in Tubas, arresting several doctors including the director of the medical centre. The Israeli Army attack came after an Israeli drone struck a car killing two young Palestinian men and injuring a third in the northern town of Aqaba. The ambulance had taken the wounded and the deceased to the Turkish hospital. In an attempt to take the bodies of the young martyrs and arrest the wounded man, the Israeli military held the entire hospital and surrounding streets hostage for hours, smashing several windows inside the building, threatening staff and triggering panic. Numerous times, fire was opened inside the hospital, going so far as to injure one of the civilians gathered in the courtyard of the facility. The doctors were arrested and later released; interviewed by Middle East Eye, they reported receiving insults, beatings and death threats by the Israeli Army, if they did not hand over the bodies of the men they had earlier killed and wounded. After the military left the facility, funerals were held for the two young men killed to prevent a new attempt to steal the bodies. The situation in the West Bank is becoming increasingly tense. The continuing horrific attacks, deaths and arrests create a fear for what lies ahead.
This dire situation is made worse by the latest statements by the Israeli government and Finance Minister Smotrich, who are openly speaking of a plan to annex the West Bank to Israel by 2025. They would begin with the dismantling of the Civil Administration during Donald Trump’s presidency, a key step toward annexation. These announcements of intention to violate international law and annex the West Bank, do not give any hope of an end to the military occupation and apartheid. On the contrary, it seems only to serve to escalate the already intense situation for the Palestinians living in their homes in the West Bank.
