Tag: Nablus

IOF detain medical volunteers delivering medicine, aid during curfew

by IWPS, February 28th

Yesterday at midnight, Israeli jeeps and soldiers re-invaded Nablus’ old city and re-imposed curfew on its residents. Throughout today, the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC) emergency medical volunteers and IWPS accompaniers delivered medicine, food and supplies to families unable to leave homes due to curfew.

At 1:00pm, three medics and two IWPS volunteers were stopped by four soldiers in a jeep and were asked to give their identification cards. Soldiers held their IDs for about one hour before releasing the medics.

At about 2:30pm, five soldiers interrupted a medical delivery by seven medics (including a doctor and nurse) and internationals by detaining the group for over ten minutes.

In another instance that afternoon, a group of 7 medics, including one doctor and volunteers attempted to reach a heart-condition patient in his home and were stopped by four soldiers. More soldiers arrived, detaining a total of 17 medics plus volunteers for over half an hour. The doctor was released after 40 minutes.

As of 5:30pm, UPMRC workers reported they had assisted approximately 60 people and there were 30 ambulance cases. Numerous houses are still occupied by soldiers, with the residents trapped inside.

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Here is some video footage of the first three days of the invasion. It’s a co-production by the Research Journalism Initiative (RJI) and the anarchist film collective “a-films”.

Day 1 – good quality
Day 1 – low quality

Day 2 – good quality
Day 2 – low quality

Day 3 – good quality
Day 3 – low quality

Nablus Old City siege by IOF: Turkish bath invaded, human shield updates, hospital restriction, man in coma from tear gas

by IWPS, February 27th

1. Invasion of Turkish Bath, February 25

Israeli forces broke into the Turkish Bath in the Old City of Nablus at 11:00pm and used it as a military base for two days. The soldiers broke the door to the entrance of the baths and searched through everything. Soldiers left one room of the baths in ruins, with broken tiles, open lockers, soap, towels, and sheets thrown on the ground, and light fixtures ripped out of the wall. The stained glass on the ceiling was damaged, the water pipes were taken apart, the wooden ceiling was ripped apart, and the mirror was cracked.

The Turkish bath is 400 years old and holds great economic and cultural significance for the people of Nablus. Many people use the baths everyday and several families depend on it economically.

2. Human Shield Update, February 25 and 26

On February 25, at 3 am in the Old City of Nablus, Israeli soldiers invaded the home of a local vegetable vendor from the Yasmin quarter. The soldiers took him out of his home to accompany them while walking around the Old City. The soldiers forced him walk in front of them as a human shield.

On February 26, soldiers returned to the same man’s house and interrogated him about his children. The soldiers ordered the man to help negotiate their way to the location where another local man was recently killed. They took him to another building and interrogated him about two families. The soldiers exploded a bomb in the wall next to him, separating two rooms. Soldiers also used the same man’s home as a base and consumed his food.

3. Hospital Blockade and Restriction, February 25 and 26

On February 25 at 3:30am, Israeli forces invaded Al-Watani Hospital in Nablus. The director arrived at 7am and met the army commander and more than 10 soldiers with their jeeps parked inside the hospital area. The director stated to the army that their presence was illegal according to international law. Soldiers remained at the hospital for two days, checking IDs of all patients, doctors, visitors, and staff in addition to searching every car, handbag, and package. The hospital services remained open, but many patients and staff were afraid to go near the building.

On February 26, soldiers threw tear gas near the hospital, which entered the building.

4. Man in Coma From Tear Gas, February 26

A 47-year-old tailor and father of seven is in critical condition at the Nablus Hospital after going into cardiac arrest. The man inhaled tear gas in his home, which thrown by Israeli soldiers after a confrontation with Palestinian youth. According to a family member, the man told his wife he could not breathe and the family immediately called for medical help. Israeli soldiers prevented an ambulance from reaching the man for one hour. At the same time, IOF forces were detaining twenty-five UPMRC emergency medical volunteers so they could not respond to the call. By the time the man reached the hospital, his condition was severe. According to his doctor, he has no chance of recovery.


a window of the Yasmin hotel

Nablus man critical after denial of medical treatment

by the ISM media team, February 26th

Residents in the Old City of Nablus woke up this morning to find their city under curfew for the second day with dozens of military vehicles and hundreds of soldiers with dogs on their streets.

Like citizens all over the West Bank, most Nabulsi face a daily struggle to feed themselves and their families due to the economic embargo imposed by the international community last year for exercising their democratic rights. Unlike in previous sieges residents can’t now afford to stock up on provisions even if they are able to break curfew.

At around noon IOF shot in the neck and murdered 41-year old Anan al-Teibi and seriously wounded his 24-year old son Ashraf in the elbow whilst the pair were on the roof of their house. When the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC) tried to evacuate Ashraf they found him in shock and tried to escort him down the stairs. Their path was blocked by soldiers, who beat up one UPMRC volunteeer. The volunteer was detained together with a doctor. The doctor was released but the UPMRC volunteer remains in detention.

International volunteers are accompanying UPMRC volunteers in getting basic food and medical supplies to families although the IOF often prevent this. According to UPMRC sources, since the invasion started they have been unable to get insulin to 8 people who have requested it.

Around 25 houses are still occupied in central Nablus. In one four-storey house belonging to the Dilal family 20 people, including 8 babies and a pregnant woman have been locked into one room, while the other storeys are being used as a prison, for intelligence and for interrogation purposes.

Ghareb Abdel Ghani Selhab is in a critical condition in Watani hospital after tear gas was fired into his house. The 47-year old asthma sufferer had a severe attack and, according to witnesses, an ambulance was prevented from reaching him for two hours.

International volunteers heard local men being beaten and witnessed them being humiliated on the streets by being forced to undress.

death, destruction, racism, flowers

by Yifat Appelbaum, February 26th

Monday morning I got a call saying there is a major invasion in Nablus because soldiers had uncovered an explosives laboratory. The entire city was under curfew, and ISM needed volunteers to go there and help the medical teams. Of course, sure, I had a day off so why not spend it tramping through the wet, muddy streets of Nablus with the UPMRC (the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees) Sounds like a party to me.

Before leaving we learned that soldiers had taken over the local TV station and were broadcasting the names of eight men they wanted either dead or alive and that the operation would last until the men were found. Hmm, so they want to kill or arrest eight men and so the entire city is shut down, everyone is ordered to remain in doors while the soldiers rampage through the city, occupy homes and schools and continue the general harassment that is jading me to the point where things that seemed worthy of writing home about are brushed off and no longer given a second thought anymore. That is bad.

The road from Ramallah to Nablus is beautiful in the spring. The almond trees are blooming, there are fields of yellow and purple flowers and my favorite flower, the striking red poppy.

After arriving in Nablus, our team of four international volunteers met up with a group of PMRC volunteers and began the somewhat harrowing job of breaking curfew in order to check on sick people and bring medicine and food. I’ve never walked around a city under curfew before. It looked like a ghost town except for a few stragglers and teenaged boys who were provoking and teasing the teenaged soldiers. Ridiculous. Is any of this worth dying for ? I don’t think so, I wonder if the soldiers do. Then comes the existential questions, what am I doing here, is it helping ? Why bother… Even when the occupation has ended, the strife will move to another part of the world. Who is to say the Palestinians won’t turn their collective devastation onto another population like the Israelis have done to them and the cycle will continue ? The world is such a bad place now. I feel helpless.

Nevertheless we followed the UPMRC teams with our hands up shouting “MEDICAL RELIEF, WE ARE UNARMED, DON’T SHOOT” whenever we encountered soldiers. There’s nothing like staring down the barrel of a gun to pull you out of bouts of self-pity. It’s ironic how the unarmed UPMRC guys seemed so much less frightened than the jumpy soldiers who were armed to the teeth. Fear is a funny thing. I guess they’re used to it; it’s their city; it’s normal life for them. We helped them bring food and medicine to people who had called in with requests because the soldiers are less jumpy and violent when they see a group of international girls breaking curfew.

At one point a group of eight soldiers walked passed us, guns aimed in every direction, accompanied by an older Palestinian man. I couldn’t figure out what the Palestinian man was doing with them because he didn’t appear to be under arrest. I asked one of the PMRC volunteers who explained to me that the man had whispered to him that he was a human shield. He’d been “kidnapped” since 4am that morning and was forced to accompany the soldiers as they patrolled the streets so that Palestinian fighters would not shoot at the soldiers. You know this happens, you read about it but nothing prepares you for the shock and disgust of actually seeing it yourself. We made some phone calls to Israeli human rights organizations. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the use of civilians as human shields in military operations. At this point I start to wonder if anyone cares if a father of five who sells vegetables in the market during the day is being used as a human shield in a military operation.

As it began to get dark we found a hotel to stay at and the UPMRC guys helped us locate what seemed to be the only open grocery store in all of Nablus.

The following morning I left back to Ramallah. The beautiful ride back is kind of like the payment you get for the devastating way being in Nablus makes you feel. As I’m writing this report I heard of the first casualty of the invasion. A 50 year man was shot in the back of the neck while walking down the street with his son.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has a section where readers can post comments on a story, and while reading a recent story on the current situation in Nablus, I uncovered this little gem:

Title: God Help those who live near savages
Name: Steve
City: Tel Aviv

Why do we even associate with these people. Wall them in, expel them, and import thai laborers. END OF STORY. We need to be COMPLETELY seperate from murderous barbarians.

Isn’t this what’s already happening?