Israel-Palestine war: Army raid on West Bank camp leaves death and destruction

Twenty-four hours after raiding the Nour Shams refugee camp, east of the city of Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army withdrew its vehicles, leaving death and destruction in its wake.

The raid has resulted in the deaths of 13 Palestinians, including five children under the age of 15, as well as dozens wounded, some critically, and a large number of people arrested, with some later released.

The army's withdrawal has revealed the massive amount of destruction it has wreaked in the streets, homes, and on infrastructure. On Friday morning, the camp's residents were finally able to pull out five of the Palestinians who were killed from inside the camp mosque.

The Israeli army said in a statement that it killed 13 fighters and arrested 20 “wanted” persons. It announced yesterday that a sergeant in its special undercover unit of the Border Guard was killed, and nine soldiers were wounded.

Israeli forces stormed dozens of homes in the camp with the aim of arresting or killing fighters, but according to residents’ testimonies, most of those arrested were civilians.

Soldiers stormed the home of the al-Qarawi family, located in the neighbourhood where the most violent clashes took place, and turned it into a military barracks, cramming two entire families in one room.

Taqwa al-Qarawi told Middle East Eye that dozens of heavily armed soldiers raided the house, searched it, and arrested her husband and his brother. They then forced the women and children to stay in one room and snipers mounted the roof of the house.

'They crammed us into one room and kept us there for 13 hours without electricity or water'

- Taqwa al-Qarawi, camp resident

“We were four women and seven children, the eldest of whom is nine years old. They crammed us into one room and kept us there for 13 hours without electricity or water. The children screamed whenever they heard the sound of gunfire. The situation was crazy and terrifying,” she said.

The Israeli army used a drone to bomb the entrance to al-Siddiq Mosque in the camp, killing a number of residents, including children.

Taqwa said their house was close to the mosque, and that she heard children screaming after they were hit, but due to the great destruction and the siege, the ambulance crews were unable to reach them and they all succumbed to their wounds. 

“We went out after the army withdrew to see what had happened in the camp. We found it to be a completely different place, destruction everywhere,” she said.

“Military bulldozers destroyed the streets and kept digging them until they reached the water pipes and blew them up, cutting off the electricity network.

“We felt during that day that we were like the people of the Gaza Strip.” 

Israel has carried a violent bombing campaign on Gaza since 7 October, when Hamas launched a massive surprise attack on southern Israel. 

At least 4,200 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis have been killed since the start of the war.

'The resistance continues'

For more than two years, Israel has been trying to eliminate the armed groups in the Tulkarm, Jenin, and the Aqabat Jabr camps in the West Bank, and inside the old city of Nablus, to no avail.

After a full day of invasion, Palestinian resistance fighters openly took to the streets of the Nour Shams camp on Friday morning with their weapons, along with the residents, to send a message of defiance to the Israeli army.

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One of them told the press: "The resistance continues here and everywhere. We will not be defeated. We will not surrender... Their assault failed, they will not succeed in uprooting us."

Journalist Fayha Khanfar from Tulkarm told MEE that it was a very difficult night and the sounds of the bombing did not stop throughout.

She added that soldiers were placing explosives and blowing up the walls of connected houses in order to move internally from one to another.

Khanfar said the Nour Shams camp, like other Palestinian camps, has closely built houses, narrow alleys, and weak infrastructure. 

The camp sits on 0.21 square kilometres, with an estimated population density of 64,376 persons per square kilometre, according to the United Nations.

“The Israeli army deliberately destroyed all the vehicles that were in the streets of the camp. The infrastructure cannot be returned to what it was or even less, not for weeks,” Khanfar said.

“The smell of death permeated the camp's mosque after five martyrs remained in it overnight without anyone being able to transport them to the hospital.”