Israeli Airstrike Kills Three Palestinians in Tulkarm, 25 Detained – West Bank Escalations

Israeli forces raided Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank. (Photo: via QNN)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Three Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a house in the Tulkarm refugee camp during a 14-hour long raid in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces targeted the house after they surrounded the camp, accompanied by military bulldozers and snipers stationed on the roofs of buildings, reported the Quds News Network(QNN).

Muawiyah al-Hajj Ahmed, 23, Imad Taysir Shrim, 34, and Wassim al-Anbar, 24, were identified as those killed in the attack, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

Since the early hours of Thursday, Israeli military vehicles bulldozed the infrastructure in the streets of the camp, and deliberately vandalized public and private property, including homes and shops along the service road in the center of the camp, said WAFA.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) is further reported as saying its teams managed to treat two Palestinians – a five-year-old girl and a 37-year-old man, who sustained shrapnel injuries during the raid.

Additionally, a young man was injured after being run over by a military jeep while walking on a street in Tulkarm.

Fierce Clashes

The military invasion, which lasted 14 hours, resulted in fierce clashes with resistance fighters.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said its fighters targeted Israeli forces “with a number of explosive devices and a heavy barrage of bullets … achieving direct and confirmed hits among the enemy soldiers.”

Responding to the latest killings, the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas vowed that “the ongoing crimes of the occupation will not succeed in breaking the resistance’s will within our Palestinian people.”

“The intensified raids and crimes of the occupation in the cities and refugee camps of the West Bank, and the systematic destruction and sabotage it conducts in the camps of Tulkarem, Jenin, Balata, and others, are a practical translation of the fascist statements and positions issued by the leaders” of Israel, which “confirm their persistence in criminal plans against our people and land in the occupied West Bank.”

Hamas saluted “the heroism” of the fighters of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Saraya Al-Quds, Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and all the resisting military wings, adding that the “shedding of our people’s blood will not succeed in breaking the will of resistance.”

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Widespread Destruction

According to Faisal Salama, head of the Popular Committee for Tulkarm Refugee Camp Services, the situation in the Tulkarm camp is dire, WAFA said.

Salama reported extensive damage to streets, infrastructure, and private property, including sewage systems, water, electricity, and communications.

He earlier described the camp as a disaster zone, with Israeli forces committing what he termed as war crimes, reported WAFA.

Salama pointed out that Israeli forces had cut off the camp from its surroundings by blocking entrances and bulldozing streets, making pedestrian movement nearly impossible.

Youth Shot

On Wednesday night, a 17-year-old Palestinian was shot and injured by live bullets fired by Israeli forces during confrontations in the town of Kafr Aqab, north of occupied Jerusalem, said WAFA.

Local sources reported that several Israeli armored patrols stormed the town, assaulted local residents and broke into several homes.

Elsewhere on Wednesday evening, three Palestinians sustained injuries from Israeli forces’ gunfire in the Balata refugee camp, east of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, WAFA reported, citing the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

Also on Wednesday,  a young Palestinian man succumbed to wounds sustained in an Israeli drone strike last Thursday on the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus.

Jamal Ahmad As-Saudi, was injured in the strike that targeted a gathering of people in the camp, resulting in the killing of two young men and injury of four others, including As-Saudi.

Dozens Detained

Israeli forces detained 25 Palestinians, including two women and a child, on Wednesday night into the early hours of Thursday, across the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) said in a joint press statement that the detentions took place in multiple governorates across the occupied West Bank, reported WAFA.

The raids were marked by violence and intimidation, said the statement. Witnesses reported that the detainees and their families were subjected to threats, and extensive damage was inflicted on their homes during the raids. The Israeli forces also engaged in widespread property destruction.

According to the two organizations, over 10,000 Palestinians have been detained from the West Bank, including Jerusalem, since October 7.

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Homes Demolished

The Israeli occupation forces demolished two houses in the village of Kharbatha al-Misbah, west of Ramallah, on Thursday.

The head of the village council in Kharbatha al-Misbah, Fadel Harfoush, said that bulldozers began demolishing a house home to a family of seven and another house home to a family of six.

In a landmark advisory opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and mandated the dismantling of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

(PC, WAFA)

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