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:
On Monday 25 November, about eighty women, mothers, sisters and wives, gathered in Nablus, in the West Bank, to demonstrate in solidarity with the nearly 100 women detained in Israeli jails, along with around 12,000 men, to demand their release and an end to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Their family members have been in Israeli jails for months or years, yet nothing has been heard from them since 7 October last year.
Women gather in Nablus in support of prisoners and against the genocide in Gaza.
“We want to live in a free country! Out with the occupation forces! They burn Gaza with phosphorus bombs, and tomorrow it’s our turn,” they chanted in one of the city’s main squares while clutching pictures of their loved ones imprisoned.
Woman holding pictures of loved one.
And again: “We will not tire; they are the occupiers and the criminals. They kill the children of Palestine, men and women rise up against this.”
“My son has been in prison for two and a half years,” says Hanan, holding a photo of a smiling young man in his 30s. She has not heard from him for more than a year. “The situation in prison is very bad now,” she says. “We don’t know anything anymore because we have no chance to communicate with them in any way. No institution, red cross or human rights association, no lawyer can reach them to tell us how they are. We are very worried about our sons.” She adds: “I hope my voice will reach the whole world, and that someone will help us.”
Women gather in Nablus in support of prisoners and against the genocide in Gaza.
There are a many, too many stories. Their families brave the risks of arrest and detention to take to the streets, sometimes weekly, to demand the release of their loved ones and demand news.
“My son Samir has been in prison for eight months in administrative detention,” says another woman, a photo of the young man in her arms. “Every time his detention period ends, they renew it for him. The Israeli administration refuses permission to the lawyer and anyone else to visit him. We only hear from him when someone is released from of the same prison.
“My son is sick, and he has no treatment. They don’t give him medicine. They don’t send people for treatment.”
Also in Tulkarem, where every Tuesday dozens of people gather outside the headquarters of the International Red Cross in the hope that their voices will be heard outside the country. A band of young boys with drums and musical instruments set the rhythm for the chants, while family members and representatives of local human rights associations pass the microphone around. “With soul and blood, we will defend our prisoners! Raise your voice for those who have sacrificed their freedom,” they shout together.
“Conditions in prisons since October 7 are completely different. The number of prisoners has more than doubled,” says Ibrahim Nemer, one of the representatives of the Palestinian Prisoners Club of Tulkarem. “There are more than 12,00 political prisoners in jails now.”
People gathering in Tulkarem in support of prisoners held in Israeli jails.
According to Addameer, leading Palestinian human rights organisation on prisoners rights, before Oct. 7 there were 5,000 political prisoners. The number of administrative detentions has also increased tremendously. There are almost 3,400 people in administrative detention, whereas before it was 1,200.
Administrative detention means that a suspect is arrested and held in jail potentially indefinitely, without being told the reasons for the arrest and without the Israeli authorities being required to present evidence against him. Thus, with no possibility of defence.
“There are no longer humane living conditions in the prisons. Everything that the prisoners’ movement had conquered has been taken away,” Ibrahim continues. “TV, books, and there are no more visits for relatives. They don’t give enough food or water … Most of the prisoners have lost dozens of pounds.”
Prisoners are forced to keep the same clothes for weeks, and despite the cold they are not given the necessary blankets. Even shampoo and soap are not provided.
“It’s torture. There is no other way to describe it.”
Ibrahim describes horrific conditions in Israeli jails over the last year. “Most of the prisoners have scabies. They used to go outside two hours a day, now no outside hours are allowed in most prisons. Obviously, this is contrary to human rights.”
A further problem is their legal status. The West Bank has been occupied by the Israeli army since 1967. This would make its detainees prisoners of war, or political prisoners. “Instead, Israel does not recognize this status, but considers them common prisoners, delinquents. If it considered them political prisoners, or prisoners of war, it would have to treat them differently in accordance with international law,” explains Ibrahim.
Tulkarem.
“The military is always invading the cells where they are detained with dogs, beating them. Many prisoners have been killed in prison, the number has increased a lot since October 7, many have died because of torture and the absence of medical care. The conditions are not conducive to life … so that prisoners are just thinking about how to survive …”
According to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, at least forty prisoners have died in Israeli custody since Oct. 7. But it could be many more. At least 25 bodies have not yet been returned to their families.
“We are back to the prison-system of hundreds of years ago. We know that many people internationally are with us, but that is not enough. Because all governments are supporting Israel with weapons, money, and even soldiers. We need to put more pressure on governments to stop aid and support for Israel and free all political prisoners who are being held,” continues Ibrahim.
He has two sons in prison, and a brother. One son with a one-year sentence; one with a three-year sentence. And the brother with a 21-year prison sentence.
“We are like everyone, yani, like all Palestinian families … but the difficult conditions the prisoners are suffering make families worry about the very lives of their loved ones in prison. The problem is not only that they are detained and the time they have to wait for them to be released, but today every day we fear for their lives.”
Bodies of the martyrs who died while in Israeli jail still held by the occupation.
Music, songs, dancing, prayers and alcohol. This could chracterize a common religious festival anywhere – were it not being used as an excuse for Israeli settlers to attack and raid the Palestinian community, which is already living under segregation since 1997, in the city known as al-Khalil for the Palestinians and Hebron for the Israeli.
As it happens every year, tens of thousands of settlers and Zionists from abroad gathered in the city on Friday, Nov. 22, and Saturday, Nov. 23, to celebrate “Shabbat Chayei Sarah”, coinciding with the Torah reading of the story of Sarah (one of the wives of Abraham). Sarah is believed to be buried in what Israelis call the Cave of the Patriarchs. Commonly known as “Sarah Day”, this event has for years turned into a kind of pogrom against Palestinians living in Al-Khalil.
In previous years, settlers have attacked Palestinian homes, cars and stores, attempted to start fires, and done massive marches which start from the Shuhada Street (almost completely closed to Palestinians), cross check-points and spill into the Palestinian part of the city. The Sarah’s Sabbath is one of those days that worsen the already oppressive living conditions for Palestinians living in al-Khalil, conditions which have become almost impossible since October 7. The entire area was blocked off to Palestinians for the weekend – the check-points were completely closed, preventing passage from one side of the city to the other.
Ben Gvir at the Friday gatheringSettlers at the Friday gathering
Settlers began arriving the day before (Nov. 21); buses from settlements throughout the West Bank and ’48 (Israel proper) brought thousands of young people, families, and military personnel to camp in tents around the Ibrahimi Mosque and Al-Shuhada Street. The celebration began here, around what’s considered a sacred historical monument built over the cavern containing the tombs of Abraham, his wife Sarah, and sons Isaac and Jacob. Al-Shuhada Street has been almost inaccessible to Palestinians for 27 years now; it was closed by the military after the so-called Hebron Protocol in 1997 and the beginning of the geographic apartheid of al-Khalil.
Settlers marching through Palestinian neighborhoods
On Friday evening, groups of settlers carried out night marches in the Jaber neighborhood and Palestinian-inhabited areas near the Kiryat Arba settlement, chanting slogans and insults against Arabs and Palestinians. Also present was Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, who was celebrating Sarah’s Sabbath surrounded by worshippers in the afternoon and leading a group of settlers in chanting anti-Arab slogans in the evening. Ben Gvir is one of about eight thousand inhabitants of the huge illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba, known for its extremist and violent views. That settlement was also the hometown of Baruch Kopel Goldstein, the Israeli-American terrorist who in 1994 opened fire on hundreds of Muslims praying in the Ibrahimi Mosque, killing 29 people and wounding 125. Ben Gvir is known to keep an image of the terrorist in his living room.
On Saturday, a number of youth groups gathered in one of the main outposts inside the city, the Beit Romano settlement. After gathering beyond the gate that closes al-Shuhada, they began throwing stones and shouting insults and slogans against Arabs. In years prior, the military allowed and facilitated a march that invaded the old city, forcing Palestinian merchants to close their stalls and barricade themselves in their homes for fear of settler violence.
Settlers chanting slurs towards Palestinians
This year that particular march was not held, perhaps because of the current political situation. “Fortunately, there was little violence this year,” confirmed B., a member of a local human rights association. “But life in al-Khalil is becoming more and more difficult,” B. continued. “We live in apartheid, and since October 7 things have gotten even worse. They open and close the city as they want. After the beginning of the conflict, for ten consecutive days we were forced indoors with one hour a day when we could go out.”
Settlers in Shuhada St
Hebron is in fact a divided city, a Palestine in miniature: metal turnstiles, walls and at least 28 check-points separate the Israeli-controlled H2 zone from the Palestinian Authority-held H1. Some 33,000 Palestinians live in the Israeli state-controlled zone, which in addition to dividing families and communities, forces thousands of people to pass through lengthy security checks on a daily basis and endure mistreatment, abuse and arbitrary closures of entire neighborhoods. OCHA’s September 2023 survey found that there were a total of 80 blockades inside the city (including the 28 “constantly-staffed” checkpoints), but since October 7 they have reportedly increased to 113 in the Old City and 180 throughout Hebron.
Settlers in Shuhada St.
This is a true internal apartheid imposed upon Palestinians in the West Bank. Painting a picture of what apartheid is like in Hebron, B. narrated: “From my home in the Jaber neighborhood (H2 area), it would take me five minutes to walk to the mosque. Now I don’t go there anymore, I would have to go through eight checkpoints, between road closures and check-points. Their goal is to tire us out, to get us out of these neighborhoods.” He spoke of “voiceless displacement”, the silent removal of Palestinians because of the continued abuse, violence, and economic hardship Palestinians are forced to endure.
“Since 2000, since the beginning of the walls and check-points, more than 580 stores have been closed due to military orders, and more than 1,800 stores have suffered huge economic repercussions or closed due to the limited mobility of people in the city,” B. added. In addition to the suffering associated with harassment and endless waiting at check-points, there are raids, arrests, and arbitrary detentions. “I too have been forced in prison, like almost everyone in Palestine… That’s the Zionist ideology’s way of doing things,” related B. “They do things gradually, they try to change the demographics of the neighborhoods. They make people leave quietly because they force them into a non-life. And then they take everything.”
There are about 700 settlers living in the Old City, protected by 2,300 soldiers. “For every settler there are three soldiers: that gives the idea of the situation,” said B., speaking of the completely militarized city. And now the settlers have donned a uniform and become military themselves, resulting in increased violence toward Palestinians. “Al-Khalil is the only city in the West Bank where settlements are also inside the city. And they are trying to enlarge the settlements all the time.”
Al-Khalil: a city, a small Palestine.
Empty Old City of Al-Khalil due to blocks and restrictions
Jenin, West Bank | November 21, 2024 | By Diana Kwaelid
When will Israel stop destroying cities and camps in the northern West Bank?
The Jenin area has turned from an active city full of life and economy, into a destroyed zone where you can see wreckage in the town, and especially in the camp, which is most affected. The streets of the city and the camp became ruined, and Israel has destroyed them again every time an Israeli incursion into the city and the camp occurred.
Israel used punitive methods to break the popular incubator in Jenin and camp
On the night of last Tuesday, November 19, the Israeli occupation forces stormed the city of Jenin and stationed themselves in several main axes in the city, the Jenin camp, the eastern province (which was targeted first), and the village of Qabatiya. Later they were stationed in the town of Kafr Dan.
In Qabatiya, the Israeli occupation forces stormed the village and surrounded a house where Palestinian youths were being chased by Israel. Three Palestinian youths were assassinated and their bodies were detained.
Al Batekha roundabout
Two Palestinians were also killed during the storming of the eastern neighborhood area in Jenin. The ambulance managed after a lengthy struggle to reach them and take them to the hospital, but they did not survive.
The Israeli occupation mechanisms carried out systematic destruction in several areas in the eastern neighborhood, the watermelon roundabout, and the camp. This camp had already been destroyed previously, especially in the area of Al-Wahdan and Al-Rukh inside the camp, one of the most heavily impacted areas and neighborhoods during the recent military surge.
The occupation killed an additional five Palestinians during its 24-hour military operation the following day. As the Israeli military operation wore on from Wednesday evening into Thursday, the Israeli occupying forces stormed the village of Kafr Dan. An Israeli warplane targeted a car carrying Palestinians and surrounded a house, bringing the number of martyrs of the city of Jenin to eight martyrs within 48 hours.
Al Wahdan neighborhood in the camp
A state of sadness prevailed in the entire city of Jenin for the loss of these eight Palestinians, and due to the continuous systematic destruction of the city and the camp.
Dozens of Palestinians have lost their livelihood due to the destruction of the infrastructure and the systematic occupation of shops and the destruction of houses during the ongoing destruction operation – during the previous incursions especially the latest one.
The Palestinians are aware of what Israel is planning to do with the policy of systematic destruction of the camps, especially the Jenin camp – the destruction and burning of the refugee issue – as a key constant in the Palestinian cause.
The occupation machinery present in Jenin
Palestinians said: “We will not leave the camp no matter what happens; we will stay here.”
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the death toll of the number of martyrs in the West Bank since October 7 has risen to 793, and in the city of Jenin alone there are a total of 215 martyrs.
