Tel Aviv Tribune Net correspondents
Nablus- “Unprecedented destruction” Palestinian citizen Firas Khalifa described what happened to the Nour Shams camp near the city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank, after the Israeli occupation forces stormed it shortly before midnight, and carried out a military operation that was “the largest and most violent” against the people, their homes and commercial establishments, among many. The raids and attacks that the camp was subjected to, in which 24 Palestinians were martyred since the start of the war on Gaza.
At a time when the occupation army claimed that the goal of the raid was to search for explosive devices buried in the streets, arrest wanted persons, and confiscate weapons, the demolition and bombing affected 10 houses, some of which were made up of several floors. The occupation destroyed 15 vehicles, 7 of them completely, and destroyed the entire infrastructure in most of the areas. The neighborhoods of the camp into which it penetrated, and 15 people were injured by occupation bullets and fragments of explosive missiles.
This is the third military operation targeting the city of Tulkarm and its camps (Nour Shams and Tulkarm) since last Tuesday only, and this is the sixth incursion into the Nour Shams camp specifically since the war on Gaza, but it is the “violent” as described by the people, as it carried the character of sabotage and destruction, after the repeated failure of the occupation. In arresting the resistance fighters in the camp and assassinating them.
Destruction is the goal
Just before midnight, as part of a military operation that lasted for about 12 hours, large numbers of military vehicles led by bulldozers stormed Nour Shams camp, and snipers from the occupation soldiers climbed onto the roofs of buildings, and others spread out among the alleys, shooting at everything that moved, while the bulldozers began to destroy the camp’s streets. , reaching most of its neighborhoods, especially the middle, the quarry, and the schools neighborhood.
This destruction has become the habit of the occupation in most of the areas it invades, and it fails to achieve its goals. Destruction has become the goal in itself, trying to put pressure on the people and terrorize them in order to break their popular support for the resistance, and to harm the resistors themselves.
Under the pretext of pursuing the resistance, the occupation deliberately destroyed the infrastructure in Nour Shams camp, including water, electricity, sewage, communication networks, etc. Then the destruction expanded to affect citizens’ homes, commercial establishments, and private property, and even public and service institutions such as schools and health centers, whether governmental or affiliated with international institutions such as an agency. Relief and Works for Refugees (UNRWA) was not spared from the occupation’s attacks and assaults.
The occupation soldiers arrested dozens of citizens and took them to field investigation centers, which they took inside citizens’ homes that had been converted into military barracks, while storming other homes, blowing up some of them, and demolishing parts of others.
Pitting against resistance
The occupation did not limit itself to demolishing homes with bulldozers and bombings, but rather bombed them with drones. Citizen Khalifa, whose house and two of his relatives’ homes in the Al-Mahjar neighborhood were demolished by the occupation, says that they lived “a day worse, more violent, and more hateful than the days of the incursions in Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, or the previous incursions.” Which the occupation carried out in the camp during the current year.”
Khalifa added that they were subjected to many attacks, but what happened today was unprecedented “terrorism and barbarism,” as he, one of his children (16 years old), and his cousins were arrested, and the soldiers assaulted his son with severe and violent beatings.
Khalifa told Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “The soldiers wanted to deliver a message that as long as these resistance groups are present inside the camp, they will be exposed to more than that. They want to incite us to resist and fight the resistance and hate them.”
Since the withdrawal of the occupation forces at ten in the morning until the late hours of this evening, Rami Alyan, a member of the camp services committee, continued his work in providing assistance to citizens and repairing the electricity and water networks. He told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that he wants this to prevent the displacement of citizens from the camp as the occupation wants, and he wants to stabilize them. in it.
Stability and wrap around resistance
The head of the services committee in Nour Shams camp, Nihad Al-Shawish, estimated the camp’s losses today and the previous raid two days ago at about 6 million shekels ($1.66 million), and described today’s attack as “the most barbaric,” as it affected people, quarantine, and the economy in the camp, and targeted international institutions that provide Services for citizens.
Al-Shawish told Al-Jazeera Net, “All of this was for the sake of breaking the resistance and the steadfastness of the people on the ground, leading to the displacement of citizens, but Nour Shams camp provided and continues to be an important model of steadfastness, steadfastness, and embracing resistance on its land, against the occupation’s miserable attempts to end that situation.”
Regarding the reason why the state of embracing resistance in Nour Shams camp was distinguished from others, the Shawish says that this is due to the proximity of the camp’s families to each other and their distinct relationship, by virtue of their displacement in 1948 from one area (the city of Haifa), in addition to the absolute belief of all the people of the camp that the occupation is unjust, and must “It will go away as soon as possible.”
The occupation deliberately pursued a “systematic policy,” as observers say, of destroying the areas they invade, especially those that embrace resistance, as is the case in the Jenin camp, where the people no longer repair their homes or even their streets, and are barely satisfied with the minimum services, due to the large number of raids and destruction operations. In the past few months, losses to date have been estimated, according to Jenin Mayor Nidal al-Obeidi, at more than $5 million.
Citizens consider that all of this represents attempts to pressure them to “explode in the face of the resistance and flee from them instead of embracing them,” which is rejected by the people who assert that the resistance are their children, and part of their struggle against the occupation that has extended for 75 years.