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Nur Shams: Inside the West Bank camp terrorised by Israeli air strikes, bulldozers and snipers

Um Yousef and her husband have lived in their home in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm in the occupied Palestinian West Bank ever since they married 43 years ago.

And they are still there today. Even though it’s in ruins. The furniture smashed. No outside wall. Rubble everywhere. We are sitting on plastic chairs in what used to be the kitchen. There’s no running water or electricity.

Um Yousef says she has no intention of moving out and nor has her husband.

“This is the investment of 40 years of our life.”

She says she misses her sons and grandchildren, whose school books can still be seen scattered amid the debris. They used to live on the top floor but Israeli soldiers destroyed the stairs so they had to move out.

READ MORE: Inside the West Bank camp terrorised by Israeli air strikes, bulldozers and snipers

Women sit inside a damaged building in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the aftermath of an Israeli raid on 23 July 2024 (Raneen Sawafta/Reuters)
Women sit inside a damaged building in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the aftermath of an Israeli raid on 23 July 2024 (Raneen Sawafta/Reuters)