For the third day in a row, at least 14 Palestinians have been killed during an ongoing Israeli military operation in Tulkarm and the refugee camp in the northern West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. According to a press statement sent to Xinhua on Saturday, the bodies of the 14 Palestinians killed were transferred to Tulkarm Hospital from the Nour Shams Palestinian refugee camp east of the city.
According to Xinhua news agency, no additional information was provided in the statement. Palestinian security sources said that Israeli forces, accompanied by military bulldozers, entered the camp on Thursday, imposing a strict siege and demolishing main streets, infrastructure, residential homes, and shops. .
According to the sources, the ongoing military operation, which has coincided with power outages, water cuts, and disruptions to communication and internet networks in the camp, is the most severe in years. Sniper units were stationed on the roofs of high-rise buildings, while other forces detonated several houses with guided missiles.
Local sources and eyewitnesses reported clashes between army and Palestinian militants, as well as explosions caused by homemade explosive devices.
The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), both issued separate statements claiming that their elements had engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli forces in the camp.
According to Israeli public radio, the army, internal security agency Shin Bet, and Israeli police killed several Palestinian militants in clashes during a large-scale military operation in the refugee camp.
According to the radio, those killed included Mohammed Jaber, also known as Abu Shuja, the commander of the Islamic Jihad Movement’s Tulkarm Battalion, and another activist named Ahmed Al-Aarif.
According to the radio, eight wanted individuals were apprehended during the ongoing operation, explosive devices and tunnels were seized, and workshops used to manufacture explosive devices within the camp were dismantled.
The West Bank has been witnessing escalating tension marked by armed confrontations between Israeli troops and Palestinians in cities, villages, and camps since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year.
Earlier on Saturday, a Palestinian ambulance driver was killed by Israeli gunfire in the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank. Israel has killed more than 460 Palestinians with airstrikes and gunfire in various parts of the West Bank and east of Jerusalem since the outbreak of the conflict, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.