The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have escalated their offensive in the city of Tulkarm and its refugee camps since the beginning of May, as part of the “Iron Wall” operation that started on January 21.
On May 1, the IOF issued demolition orders for 106 homes and buildings in the Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps. The IOF claimed that the intended demolitions are to be carried out for “military purposes”.
The residents of the camps were only given 24 hours to evacuate their properties, according to the Governor of Tulkarm, Abdullah Kamil, who denounced the process as “truly sadistic”, pointing out that it lacks any legitimate justification. The Palestinian official said that the mass demolition campaign deepened the suffering of the residents, and exacerbated food insecurity in Tulkarm.
The IOFs’ aggression across Tulkarm, which has exceeded 100 days, resulted in the killing of 13 Palestinians including a child and two women. Meanwhile, more than 25,000 citizens were forcibly displaced, over 400 homes were totally destroyed, and 2,573 homes were partially damaged.
Israel escalates assassinations and re-arrests freed prisoners in the West Bank
In tandem with the ongoing aggression on Tulkarm, the IOF intensified assassinations and arrest campaigns in other parts of the occupied West Bank.
On Thursday, May 8, a 30-year-old Palestinian man, Walid al-Kakhen, was shot dead by Israeli gunfire in the northern city of Nablus. Dozens of other Palestinians were reported injured in assaults launched by Israeli soldiers in the city the same day.
On Friday, May 9, the IOF and the Israeli Security Agency (locally known as Shabak or Shin Bet) announced the assassination of prominent Palestinian resistance leader, Nour Bitawi, with an explosive-laden drone in Nablus.
Bitawi was one of the senior leaders of the Jenin Brigades, which is affiliated with the Saraya al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement. The assassinated Palestinian leader was described by an Israeli official as “the number one most wanted terror operative in the West Bank”.
In a blatant violation of the captives-for-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, the IOF re-arrested freed Palestinian prisoner Wael al-Jaghoub, who was released in the second batch of the deal in January, after he had spent 24 years in Israeli jails.
On the same day, Thaer Hanini, a freed Palestinian prisoner, was re-arrested by the IOF at a military checkpoint in the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus. Hanani was released in June 2024 after being detained by Israel for 20 years.
Al-Jaghoub is just one of nine Palestinians, who were re-arrested recently after being released in the swap deal, four of whom are still in detention.
Friday also marked the arrest of four Palestinians, including a child and a former prisoner, during raids carried out by the IOF across the Hebron governorate in the southern West Bank.
As Israel stifles Palestinians in the West Bank, its war machine continues to massacre their compatriots in Gaza on a daily basis. The Palestinian Health Ministry in the Gaza strip stated on Friday that at least 52,787 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s genocidal aggression on the besieged enclave since October 2023.
