West Bank's Nur Shams refugee camp left in ruins following extended Israeli raid

The Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank was left in ruins after a two-day Israeli "full-fledged war", which began late Thursday in the town of Tulkarm and left at least 14 Palestinians dead and others wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The raid started with Israeli soldiers encircling the camp late Thursday and imposing a curfew ahead of the extended raid. 

For two consecutive days, houses and buildings were heavily bombed, and infrastructure was intentionally targeted. Due to wreckage done to pipelines, water from the sewers and drinking water overflowed in the alleys of the packed camp, while houses left standing were riddled with bullet holes. Vehicles across the camp were torched, and many houses were left roofless following the destruction.

For 52 hours, residents say armed fighting and clashes frequently erupted between the Israeli troops and members of the Al-Aqsa martyrs brigades— a coalition of Palestinian armed groups in the occupied West Bank associated with the Fatah movement, leaving the city in widespread destruction. 

The Israeli army announced that it had made 15 arrests of wanted Palestinians, and 9 Israelis were wounded.

According to a masked militant belonging to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, whom The New Arab spoke to in the camp's yard following the withdrawal of Israeli forces, fighters will continue standing up to Israeli occupation.

"The occupation wants to defeat resistant movements but is unable to do so. When they kill a resistance member, ten others emerge. There will be resistance as long as there is an occupation," he told TNA.

The camp, located in the northern part of the occupied West Bank and home to at least 13,500 Palestinians, has become a hub for a coalition of fighters, making it a target of frequent attacks.

'Annihilated residents and buildings'

The chairman of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Committee, a Palestinian commission affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Moayyad Shaaban, told TNA that Israel "annihilated residents and buildings". 

Shaaban said the Israeli army denied ambulance crews entry to the camp to help the wounded, leaving them to die as they were left unattended and untreated. He further added that the Israeli military destroyed everything in the camp; infrastructure, including water pipes and sewage lines, had burst. The electricity, communications, and road networks were also severely impacted.

"Hundreds of buildings are not fit for habitation anymore. Israel intends to forcibly displace the residents whose parents already lived in the 1967 Nakba," Shaaban stated.  

Global pressure has been mounting on Israel to de-escalate violence, which was already intensified before 7 October but has soared since. The Israeli military has intensified its attacks in the occupied West Bank since 7 October; it either took part in or did not protect the Palestinians from settler attacks, witnesses told Human Rights Watch. The rights body added that settlers and soldiers displaced entire communities, assaulted, tortured, and committed sexual violence against the Palestinians. 

Subsequently, the United States is reportedly expected to impose sanctions on an Israeli military unit for the human rights violations it had committed in the occupied West Bank, according to Axios. 

Hassan Al-Gebaly, 78, was sitting at the entrance of his house in the camp. He told TNA, "Destruction is everywhere for no reason. [The Israeli troops] just wanted to destroy the camp". 

Al-Gebaly's house was severely destroyed, but he lamented the death of young Palestinians who were killed during the raid. "The troops bulldozed down everything, and they killed young people in cold blood after they had used them as human shields". 

Frequent raids

Resident Moatassem Abo Sajy told TNA that the camp has turned into a pile of rubble following repeated Israeli raids that had started two years ago and have surged since the 7 October attacks. 

"The Israeli troops bulldozed down the roads and alleys, and they destroyed houses in the camp, unconcerned that families are living in these houses," Abo Sajy said, adding that they are trying to save their belongings from their houses as they were displaced to neighbours' houses. 

The mounting violence in the West Bank, particularly since 2022, has led to the proliferation of militant group activities.

"In the 12 months before the October 2023 attacks in Israel, ACLED records more than 1,300 political violence events involving Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank, nearly five times greater than in the preceding 12 months," according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).  

In a house overlooking the camp's yard, Faisal Ghannam,  who lost two of his kids in the last raid and two others in the 19 October raid, was quietly sitting. 

"My four kids were martyred in the camp. They did not provoke the occupier; rather, the occupation came to their camp, destroyed it, and killed them," Ghannam told TNA, adding, "You should defend yourself when someone comes to your house wanting to fight and kill you; these are the laws and norms". 

Ghannam emphasised that the Palestinians will not be deterred despite the atrocities committed by Israel. 

"Israel wants to expel and displace the residents; they want the land without people, and this will never be realised," Ghannam added. 

The Israeli violations in the occupied West Bank also extended to paramedics during the raid, as they were denied entry to the camp. 

Palestinian Red Crescent Health Officer Haitham Khalaf told TNA that [paramedics] received repeated calls throughout the two-day raid. 

"We knew there were a lot of wounded people, but we were denied entry," Khalaf said. "We tried to communicate with the International Red Cross Committee to coordinate with the Israeli troops, but to no avail". 

Members of the Red Crescent were stopped and thoroughly searched by the Israeli troops, according to Khalaf, which hindered their response to calls of emergency.

This article was published in collaboration with Egab.