Israel Intensifies Its Aggression on Tulkarm: Forced Evacuations, Widespread Destruction, and Detentions

Tulkarm: Israeli occupation forces escalated their assault on Tulkarm city and its refugee camps on Saturday, carrying out more forced evacuations of residents, raids, detentions, and extensive destruction of infrastructure. According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, in Tulkarm refugee camp, Israeli forces forced dozens of residents to indefinitely leave their homes in the Al-Muqataa neighborhood, adjacent to the eastern part of the city, as well as in the Al-Rabayaa area. The troops seized homes and converted them into military outposts after giving the residents a brief period to leave. One of the affected citizens, Ala' Al-Tawil, shared that he received a call from the Israeli army early in the morning, instructing him to leave immediately along with all the residents of the building where he lived. He stated that he left his home without being able to take anything except his official documents and a small bag of clothes. Meantime, Israeli bulldozers bulldozed the streets of the Qaqoun neighborhood in the camp, causing further damage to the already deteriorated infrastructure. They also blocked alleys and entrances with rubble and earth mounds, while explosions were heard inside the camp. In the nearby Nour Shams refugee camp, the Israeli army briefly detained several women as they attempted to enter their homes in the Jabal al-Salihin neighborhood to retrieve essential belongings. Additionally, the forces set fire to the house of a local resident in the Al-Manshiya neighborhood, as part of their policy of systematic destruction in the camp. In the Iktaba neighborhood, Israeli bulldozers destroyed infrastructure in the area opposite the Nour Shams camp, including the Employees Housing complex. For the second time within 24 hours, Israeli forces raided a restaurant on Nablus Street, assaulting its workers before forcibly closing it, after having previously raided and vandalized it the day before. Meanwhile, the Israeli military intensified its presence on Nablus Street, blocking parts of it with earth barriers and seizing several apartment buildings in the northern neighborhood, converting them into military posts. The latest developments are part of an ongoing, wide-scale Israeli offensive in the northern West Bank that has been going on for nearly two months. The Israeli assault has led to the mass displacement of nearly 40,000 Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp and the refugee camps of Tulkarm and Nour Shams.