Category: Photo Story - Page 2 - International Solidarity Movement

The Deliberate Policy of Forcibly Displacing Palestinians from the Camps

West Bank
13-Sep-2024
By Diana Khwael

Since the beginning of the military operation on August 28th, which the Israeli occupation called “Operation Summer Camps”, targeting three cities in the northern West Bank—Tulkarem, Jenin, and Tubas—the Israeli occupation forces withdrew a week after the operation in the Tulkarem camp and 10 days after the invasion in the Jenin area, specifically in the Jenin refugee camp.

In the city of Tulkarem, particularly in the Tulkarem refugee camp, a large battalion of Israeli occupation forces participated, especially using military bulldozers and jeeps, with the aim of destroying the camp’s infrastructure. This is not the first time the Israeli occupation has targeted the camp’s infrastructure.

Palestinians Fear History Repeating

Before the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the Palestinian camps, they left behind unprecedented devastation, not seen since 2002. A resident of the Tulkarem camp noted there hadn’t been such destruction since 1967. Hundreds of Palestinian homes were destroyed or burned, and hundreds of shops were demolished by Israeli bulldozers, along with streets and vital infrastructure. Electricity, internet, and water lines were cut off from the first day of the invasion of the northern West Bank camps.

Dozens of Palestinian homes lacked basic supplies, including bread, milk for children, and water.

Continuing Military Operations in the Camps

On Tuesday the 10th, Israeli occupation forces stormed the city of Tulkarem after Israeli special forces raided the Dabbas commercial complex around 2:00 PM. A state of panic gripped the residents, especially in the camps, as military reinforcements entered the city and shops were closed. Tulkarem turned into a ghost town once again.

No Safe Life

Residents of Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps have not yet recovered from the recent incursion. The occupation took only three days to storm the city and its camps and in broad daylight. Life in Tulkarem, especially in the camps, has become unsafe and unstable as dozens of Palestinian families began fleeing, fearing another invasion.

The affected Palestinians from the Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps described their neighborhoods as completely destroyed, similar to Gaza. Many homes were destroyed beyond repair or will take a long time to rebuild.

Others said, “We no longer feel safe; we are afraid for our children.” This indicates that Israel is using tactics to displace Palestinians from the northern West Bank camps, especially those in Tulkarem.

On the evening of Thursday the 12th, Israeli occupying forces bombed a car, assassinating three Palestinian resistance fighters inside. The fighters, from the Nur Shams refugee camp, were found charred beyond recognition. The death toll in Tulkarem during the recent military operation, which lasted more than 72 hours, rose to five martyrs. Three were from Nur Shams camp, including a young man in his twenties and a twenty-year-old girl who was targeted by an Israeli sniper while at home in the Tulkarem camp.

According to the Palestinian Health Organization, the total number of martyrs in the West Bank since October 7 has reached 702, with 5,700 injured. According to the Prisoners and Liberators Affairs Commission, more than 10,400 Palestinians are currently detained in Israeli prisons.

What is Happening in the Northern West Bank?

4 September 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Northern West Bank

By Diana Khwaelid

The radical Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has renewed his incitement to impose collective punishment on citizens in the occupied West Bank, including the killing of detainees in occupation prisons.

In the early hours of August 28, 2024, Israel announced the start of a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank, specifically targeting three cities and their refugee camps: Jenin, Tulkarm, and Tubas. Israel has named this operation “The Summer Camps,” while the resistance factions in the West Bank, particularly the Jerusalem Brigades, have called it “The Terror of the Camps”. This Israeli operation is the largest since the “Protective Fence” operation in 2002. According to the *Yedioth Ahronoth* newspaper, a full military squad was mobilized after several weeks of preparation. Hebrew Channel 14 confirmed that the army had deployed thousands of soldiers from various special units, including the use of military helicopters and heavy weapons.

The operation began with a simultaneous Israeli incursion into the three cities, using huge bulldozers and air cover. The Israeli occupation forces closed all roads leading to the cities of Tulkarm and Jenin, but encountered armed resistance from fighters who attempted to prevent further advancement. In response to the armed clashes on the ground, Israel resorted to airstrikes, bombing three different locations: the Far’a refugee camp (Tubas), the Nour Shams refugee camp (Tulkarm), and a site near the Jenin refugee camp. These bombings killed several resistance fighters and wounded others. The first day ended with the assassination of nine resistance fighters, most of them from the Al-Quds Brigades and the Al-Qassam Brigades, and the wounding of an Israeli soldier amid massive destruction to the infrastructure of several targeted cities.

A week ago, the occupation forces began a large-scale operation in the northern West Bank under the pretext of dismantling resistance cells. Since then, resistance fighters have been confronting them with explosive devices and gunfire, resulting in the deaths and injuries of several Israeli soldiers.

The operation has so far resulted in the martyrdom of 33 Palestinians and the injury of 130 others, causing significant destruction to the infrastructure in the cities and camps of Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, and Tubas. The Israeli occupation forces have not only liquidated several resisters in the Nur Shams refugee camp, northeast of Tulkarm, Jenin Camp, Tubas, and Nablus but also renewed their incursion into the city of Tulkarm on the evening of Monday, September 2. This time, they stationed themselves in the Tulkarm refugee camp, where the military operation is still ongoing.

The residents of the camps in the northern West Bank, particularly in the Tulkarm and Jenin camps, are experiencing a state of fear and terror. On Monday evening, Israeli occupation snipers targeted a civilian and his 15-year-old son. The father was transferred to the hospital, but the child died while attempting to leave the camp.

Israeli special forces also surrounded a Palestinian house in the village of Dhnaba, east of Tulkarm, and demanded the surrender of two Palestinian youths. According to eyewitnesses, they used a Palestinian child, no older than 16, as a human shield. The forces subsequently killed the two Palestinians, seized their bodies, and confiscated their private vehicle.

The Israeli occupation forces are also obstructing the movement of medical crews in the northern West Bank cities, particularly Tulkarm and Jenin, preventing them from entering the camps, transporting the injured, and assisting Palestinian patients in humanitarian cases.

The house that was surrounded and two Palestinians were executed in the village of Dhnabu

Another Crime of the Israeli Occupation: Five Killed in Nur Shams Camp

28 August 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Tulkarm Camp

*Nur Shams Camp – Tulkarm – West Bank*
*27-Aug-2024*
*By Diana Khwaelid*

On the evening of Monday 26, Israeli occupying forces carried out an aerial bombardment through an Israeli drone strike on one of the houses in the Nur Shams refugee camp, northeast of the city. After the residents of the camp gathered to assess what had happened, the drone fired another shell at the area. Palestinian Civil Defense crews rushed to the scene, along with medical teams.

More than five injured Palestinians were transferred from the camp to the Thabit Thabit Government Hospital in the city. According to the Palestinian Health Organization, five Palestinians were killed, two of them minors, including one from the city of Qalqilya, who was with other young men in the camp.

The martyrs are Adnan Al-Jaber, Mohammed Sheikh Yusuf, Mohammed Aliyan, and Muhannad Qarawi, all from Nur Shams refugee camp, and Jibril Jibril from Qalqilya.

It is reported that martyr Muhannad Qarawi is the brother of Moamen Qarawi, who was killed near the village of Bala by an Israeli airstrike while he was inside a car with other young men on the 3rd of this month.

It should be noted that both Muhannad Qarawi and Jibril Jibril had recently been freed from captivity as part of the freedom deal between Hamas and Israel.

The 20-year-old martyr Jibril Jibril, from Qalqilya in the northern West Bank, had been pursued by Israeli occupation forces attempting to arrest him again. He decided to go to the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm to resist the occupation. However, fate led him to be martyred there alongside his comrades, both in captivity and in the field.

A state of sadness and anger swept through the city of Tulkarm, especially in the Nur Shams camp, as the Israeli occupation forces continued to carry out assassinations of Palestinian youth through drone strikes in Tulkarm, Nur Shams camp, Jenin, Qalqilya, and Tubas, all in the northern West Bank.

On Tuesday morning, the city of Tulkarem announced a general commercial strike and a state of mourning in honor of the five martyrs who were killed in the Israeli airstrike on Monday evening, the 26.

Hundreds of Palestinians participated in the funeral of the five martyrs. Jibril Jibril’s body was transferred to his hometown of Qalqilya, where his family and friends bade a final farewell. They prayed for him in the Return Garden in the camp before he was buried in the cemetery.

According to the Palestinian Health Organization, there have been more than 600 martyrs in the West Bank as of October 7.

Israeli Military Operation in Tulkarm Camp

23 August 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Tulkarm Camp

*Tulkarm – West Bank*
*22-Aug-2024*
*By Diana Khwaelid*

On the night of August 22, Israeli occupation forces carried out a massive military operation in the Tulkarm refugee camp that lasted 14 hours. Armed clashes took place between Palestinian resistance and Israeli forces in the camp.

**Siege of the camp**
Israeli occupation forces surrounded all the main entrances to the camp, blocking roads with various military vehicles. The siege lasted 14 hours, cutting off electricity, water, and internet. Israeli snipers were deployed on rooftops and surrounding buildings.

**Israeli military reinforcements**
Israeli forces continued to send reinforcements to Tulkarm throughout the operation, centered in the refugee camp. This led to heightened tensions between Palestinians in the camp and the surrounding city.

**Destruction of camp infrastructure**
A month and a half after the last military operation, during which roads and infrastructure were repaired by the municipality and Palestinian Civil Defense, Israeli forces again stormed the camp and destroyed the newly repaired infrastructure. Bulldozers began clearing the main entrance to the camp, known as the Madrasa corridor, and destroyed roads, power lines, water networks, and the sewage system. This destruction of infrastructure by Israeli forces is not the first, nor will it be the last.

**Obstruction of ambulances**
Israeli occupation forces obstructed Palestinian ambulances from entering the camp to transport the injured. Volunteer medical teams inside the camp risked their lives to assist the wounded, and they were the ones who transported the bodies of Palestinians hit by Israeli shelling.

**Destruction and shelling of houses**
Dozens of Palestinian homes and shops were bombed and destroyed, either partially or totally. Israeli forces bombed more than four houses using drones, including one in the town of Aktabah, a neighborhood northeast of Tulkarm.

**Three Palestinian martyrs**
Three Palestinians were killed as a result of Israeli aerial bombardment inside one of the camp’s houses. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, three Palestinians were seriously injured by Israeli shelling while seeking shelter. The martyrs are Imad Shuraim, 34, Muawiya Al-Hajj Ahmed, 30, and Wasim Anbar, 30—all residents of Tulkarm refugee camp. Their bodies were buried three hours after Israeli forces withdrew, with their relatives bidding them a final farewell in the Danaba cemetery near the camp.

Palestinian elder raises his flag in defiance of the occupation forces

Huge Destruction Suffered by Nur Shams Refugee Camp

*Tulkarm – Nur Shams Refugee Camp*
June 9, 2024
By Diana Khwaelid*

At midnight on June 9, occupation forces stormed the city of Tulkarm and stationed themselves in the Nur Shams camp, northeast of Tulkarm. A military operation that lasted for more than 13 continuous hours ensued, during which the Israeli occupation forces vandalized and destroyed the camp on the orders of Israeli military officials.

According to the residents of the camp, “this incursion was the most difficult and dangerous of the Israeli military incursions,” despite the exposure of the residents of Nur Shams camp to dozens of previous incursions.

Dozens of Israeli military vehicles stormed the camp and the Manshiyeh neighborhood. D9 and 5 bulldozers sabotaged and destroyed the main road of the camp, Nablus Street. They also destroyed the camp’s infrastructure, including the water network and power lines.

Dozens of shops were damaged, including a pharmacy, restaurants, and private shops for cellular devices. Many Palestinian homes were destroyed as a result of the vandalism and destruction of the camp.

The Israeli occupation forces conducted the destruction accompanied by military vehicles, especially bulldozers, while Palestinian civilians, including women and children, were inside their homes. The occupation forces did not ask or care about those inside the houses or whether they were physically harmed.

Medical and Palestinian Civil Defence crews rushed to the camp immediately after the withdrawal of military vehicles at around 3 pm, following more than 13 hours of continuous destruction. The medical staff stated that they had not received any reports or dealt with any injuries inside the camp. It was like a miracle that the occupation entered and left without causing physical injuries.

Palestinians inside the camp said: “في المال ولا في العيال”, good it happened “to the money and not to the families,” meaning that at least the destruction was only to material things (homes, streets, and camps) and no life was taken.

After the Israeli Hebrew media published a special report on Tulkarm, especially the Nur Shams camp, Israeli news agencies, citing Israeli security sources, stated that the city of Tulkarm, particularly the refugee camps, must end. According to the statements of the Israeli army, “Tulkarm city is a city of terrorism.”

The people of the Nur Shams refugee camp refused to leave the camp. The majority decided to stay, no matter what happened. A Palestinian survivor whose house was destroyed said, “I will build a better house than the one destroyed by the occupation.”

The Israeli occupation forces continue to carry out incursions, destruction, murder, and arrests in the West Bank, especially in the city of Tulkarem.