The Israeli army carries out its longest and deadliest offensive in the West Bank city of Tulkarem

After 50 hours of Israeli raid, 14 Palestinians dead, ambulances detained and fifty homes destroyed, the residents of Nur Shams, a Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, were finally able to leave their homes on Sunday and witness the destruction that had been inflicted upon their neighborhood.

“(Israeli soldiers) enter as if this were Gaza,” says a resident of Nur Shams, located three kilometers east of Tulkarem, while the noise of bulldozers and cranes attempting to restore normality echoes in the background.

“Why don’t we have international protection? Where is it?” asks one resident anonymously, fearing reprisals from Israel, which has been enacting violence and repression across the West Bank.

From Friday night until Sunday morning, the residents of Nur Shams lived in fear, surrounded by the sound of shrapnel, knowing that some of their young men associated with the Brigade of Tulkarem, comprising fighters from factions like Fatah and Islamic Jihad, would not return alive.

Hana, aunt of one of the young men killed in the military operation, describes the repeated raids in Nur Shams as a tragicomedy that attracts media attention but brings no change.

“This is our reality,” says the veiled woman, surrounded by fifty mourning family members and friends. “They are killing us,” she laments.

Message from neighbors

In the alleys of the camp, established in 1952 for Palestinian refugees displaced after the creation of the State of Israel, bullet casings and dried pools of blood can be seen, along with broken furniture scattered throughout.

Neighbors talk of three nights trapped indoors, unable to buy food, fearing soldiers would break in or commandeering their homes as operations centers.

“They shot at us as if we were animals, as if there were no children or sick people behind these walls,” says Mustafa Jalil, who repeats, “This cannot be, this cannot be.”

Jalil, like many others, believes that more violence and aggression from Israel will only push more young people to join the Palestinian “resistance.”

“Even those who were indifferent to the situation end up getting involved when their loved ones are killed,” he says. “Killing and violence are not the solution. Not everything is about killing and hitting,” he adds, near the house where soldiers killed four alleged militiamen.

Israeli offensive

The Israeli Army justifies the operation as an anti-terrorist offensive, claiming to have killed ten alleged militiamen, detained 15 individuals, and discovered explosives and weapons.

Initially, Palestinian media reported the death of Tulkarem Brigade commander Muhamad Jaber, but images of him appeared on Sunday, attended by mourners at the funerals of the deceased young men.

Since the beginning of 2024, Tulkarem governorate has become a deadly hotspot for Palestinians in the West Bank, with a total of 42 deaths, including alleged militiamen, out of 157 deaths across the occupied territory.

Many of these deaths occur during nighttime raids and violent clashes, while some are caused by possible settler bullets or incidents at Israeli military checkpoints following alleged attacks against soldiers.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, since the Hamas attack on October 7, 484 Palestinians have died in the West Bank, leading many to believe that the wave of violence is just beginning.