The raid took place in the Nour-Shams camp near Tulkarem, in a context of intensifying violence in this Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
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Alongside the war in Gaza, violence continues in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Red Crescent announced on Saturday April 20 that 14 people had been killed in an Israeli raid which began Thursday evening on the Nour Shams camp, near Tulkarem. The Israeli army said earlier it had killed ten people and arrested eight others in an “anti-terrorist” raid.
The Israeli army says these operations target Palestinian armed groups, but civilians are often among the victims. Footage of the assault shows military vehicles and soldiers roaming the alleys of the camp, where nearly 7,000 people live. After the departure of the Israeli military on Saturday afternoon, rescuers rushed to help a handcuffed Palestinian, the soles of his feet lacerated, lying on a sidewalk, shows the Palestinian Red Crescent on.
“Snipers on the roofs”
The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health earlier reported “several people killed and injured inside the camp, but the army prevents medical teams from helping the injured”. The army carried out house-to-house raids in several areas of the camp. Residents said they were left without electricity and began running out of food, unable to enter or leave the camp.
Supplies of children’s milk were running out, and chronically ill people, particularly patients needing dialysis, were unable to receive care. “This incursion is unprecedented”lamented Muayad Shaaban, head of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, an entity dependent on the Palestinian Authority, referring to “snipers on the roofs and special forces deployed”.
“The Israelis want to silence Palestinian resistance in the West Bank, especially in the northern camps.”
Hassan Khuraisha, Palestinian MPto AFP
Among the victims, Qais Fathi Nasrallah, 16, died after being “hit in the head by Israeli fire”, the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Palestinian Wafa news agency said on Friday. Salim Faisal Ghanem, 30, was “killed by Israeli troops”. Traders went on strike on Saturday in Tulkarem to protest against this raid.
The Nour-Shams raid comes against a backdrop of intensifying violence in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip on October 7. Since then, in this territory, at least 480 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers. Nine Israelis, including five members of the security forces, lost their lives according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.