Nine martyrs in Tulkarem: who will hold Israel accountable?

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.

Nine morgue drawers in a small room. In seven of them, bodies wrapped in fabric are visible. Another one has its door already closed, and a man is midway through closing the door of another one.
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:

A street bordered by buildings on both sides, turned into a mud road littered with debris and with very large puddles of water. In the background, children are playing. On the right, some Palestinian inhabitants are clearing debris off the road.
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.

A city road bordered by palm trees, with two large armoured military vehicles rolling towards the left.
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:

A city road with an armoured military car advancing towards the camera, followed by a large tank and a bulldozer (rolling besides the road).
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 girl stands in the doorway of a house that is partially destroyed. Directly in front of her, the street is reduced to large piles of rubble.
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.”

A young man is lying dead on a red stretcher on the ground. There is a crowd around him, including one woman with her back turned to the camera kneeling over him with her hands on his chest.
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.

A woman is raising her arms to the sky, looking devastated. Several people stand behind her, including an oler woman who is crying. They are standing in a city street.
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.

The Crime Scene Repeats

By Diana Khwaelid | December 19, 2024

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.

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.

Israeli plan to displace residents of Palestinian camps

Palestine – Northern West Bank

18-Sep-2024

By Diana Kwaelid

For the past two weeks, the Israeli army has been conducting the largest military operation in the northern West Bank, causing the displacement of dozens of families from the Jenin Camp, Nur Shams Camp, and Tulkarem camp. This comes following Israeli calls to evacuate the camps, raising concerns about the repetition of the Gaza scenario in the West Bank.

“Gaza scenario”

Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz said on August 28 that the threat in the West Bank must be dealt with in the same way as the Gaza Strip, coinciding with the start of the West Bank operation.

Katz explained in a tweet on his X page that the Israeli army is launching an intensive military operation in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps for Palestinian refugees against what he called “the Iranian Islamic terrorist infrastructures that have been established there”.

He added that Iran is working to establish what he described as, “a terrorist front against Israel from the West Bank, based on the Gaza and Lebanon model, by financing and arming saboteurs and smuggling advanced weapons through Jordan.”

Katz also called for a temporary evacuation of the population there, and for any other necessary steps to be taken, justifying this by saying that: “This is a war on everything and we must win it.”

Inside the Tulkarem refugee camp

Israel’s grand plan

Since the launch of the large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank, which began on August 28, Israel has aimed at eliminating all Palestinian militants in the camps in the north of the West Bank, to facilitate the access of Israeli settlers to these areas and settle in them, as in the case of Masafer Yatta, the Jordan Valley area in Tubas, the villages of Nablus, Ramallah, and Hebron.

The Palestinian camps in the West Bank, specifically in the North west Bank, are a hotbed of terrorism for Israel.

Al-Balawneh neighborhood in Tulkarem camp

Breaking the popular incubator in the camps

Has Israel succeeded in breaking the popular incubator in the Palestinian camps?

During its military operation two weeks ago, the Israeli occupation forces destroyed the northern West Bank camps and turned them from a vital camp to a place where it is no longer possible to live; the northern West Bank camps have turned into a block of rubble and the infrastructure has been destroyed.

Fortunately, the Palestinians in the camps are aware that Israel’s first goal in destroying the camps, including houses, infrastructure, and shops, is to break the popular incubator and turn the Palestinian civilians living in the camp against the Palestinian fighters who have chosen the path of resistance and defend the camps in every way.

Palestinians from inside Jenin, Nur Shams, and Tulkarem camps who lost their homes and private property had the same opinion.

They said: “The occupation will not make us turn against the resistance, and if they demolish my house, I will build another house better than it.”

The footprints of an Israeli soldier during the storming of one of the Palestinian houses in the camp

Palestinian camps showcase Palestinian steadfastness

For the Palestinian community, the Palestinian camps are the representation of steadfastness and challenge, because they are Palestinians who have been displaced from Palestinian cities that have been occupied since 1948 to the West Bank, they paid the price for their stay in Palestine, and the occupation continues to pursue them until now in destroying their place of residence in refugee camps.

For the Palestinian refugees in the West Bank camps, Israel has failed in all its attempts and will never succeed in displacing them from the camps. However, there are dozens of families who have emigrated from the camps because of fear for their families and because there are special cases of illness.

These are the remnants of the occupation – a military bag with food inside for Israeli soldiers in one of the Houses of the Tulkarm camp
Map of the Al Hammam neighborhood used by the occupation soldiers during the military operation in the camp

16-year-old boy killed during Friday demonstration

Amjad Nashat Abu Alya, 16, was killed by Israelis on Friday 29 during a demonstration in the village
of al-Mughayyer. Amjad died in a hospital in Ramallah after being shot in the chest. Eyewitnesses
said he was running to safety after throwing stones when a settler shot him in the back. He is the 7 th
killed in the village.
On Friday, Palestinians gathered in al-Mughayyer and walked towards the edges of the village, to the
main road used also by settlers. The situation heated up when armed settlers arrived and started
clashes with Palestinians. Soldiers of the Israeli Occupation Forces, who were watching, intervened
and started throwing gas bombs, to which Palestinians responded by throwing stones. The settlers
sided with the soldiers and were throwing stones and shooting on the crowd. There was heavy fire
by soldiers too, with stun grenades, rubber bullets and live ammunition.

Rayan, 25, a second-degree cousin of Amjad, told the ISM that Amjad was a “normal” guy, but he got
“very emotional” and more involved in the fight when his cousin and friend, Ali Abu Alia (15), was
killed while observing a protest in 2020. “He was always the first to attend protests.”
The day before the protest, Amjad had met with one of his friends who had just been released from
an Israeli prison and they decided to attend the protest.
Friday protests are held in many villages in the West Bank as resistance to the occupation. The
peaceful protests are violently met by soldiers and police, to which Palestinians, especially the young
ones, respond by throwing stones. The al-Mughayyer protest was attended by 300- 400 people
according to Al-Jazeera. Ten people were injured by gas, and other two by rubber bullets and live
ammunitions, according to Palestinian media.
Al-Mughayyer is surrounded by a military base and two illegal Israeli settlements: Adei Ad,
established in 1998, and the more recent Malachei Hashalom, from 2015. Villagers have been
protesting the expansion of this settlement. Things have recently exacerbated as settlers regularly
block the main road, a major artery needed for villagers’ livelihoods. Settlers also broke in the village
on several occasions, set two mosques on fire, burned cars and did a major raid in 2019 with several
injured and a Palestinian killed.
According to Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), part of an international NGO for
children’s right, there have been 16 child fatalities in 2022.
“When the settler shot him, he did it with the intention to kill,” Rayan said.
“We lost a young guy for nothing. The situation is terrible, and we have no hope. It is a common
thing for us to lose people to the occupation or have them in prison,” Rayan said.
Amjed funeral was held on Saturday 30. Thousands attended the procession along the nearby
villages and gave farewell to the body.

Join ISM: Training in Bristol & Belfast, July 24, 2022

 

ISM UK & ISM Ireland are offering pre-training sessions in Bristol and Belfast this month for prospective volunteers who are interested in joining the International Solidarity Movement on the ground in Palestine. 

Attending the training session will give you a chance to get a first impression of ISM and the kind of work we do, receive training, connect with former volunteers and have your questions answered. You will also be filled in on how Palestinians are resisting the occupation and how we as internationals can work in solidarity with them using non-violent, direct action methods. 

There is no obligation to join ISM after the training. 

We ask participants to donate £5 to cover training costs. 

 

Bristol 

Date: July 24, 2022

Time: 10:30-16:00

Location: Bristol, UK 

To sign up for the training, please contact training.ismlondon@riseup.net

 

Belfast 

Date: July 24, 2022

Time: 10.30 – 4.30 

Location: Belfast

To sign up for the training, click attending on Facebook here