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Scenes. Published by IMEMC News

Children near the scene of a drone attack in Tammun in January. Credit: Zain Jaafar / AFP. Jan 2025. Published by Haaretz

Israeli military vehicles operate during a raid at the Al-Faraa camp near Tubas, in the West Bank, in January. Credit: Raneen Sawafta / Reuters. Published by Haaretz

People carry the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, some draped in the flags of the Islamic Jihad militant group and Hamas, during their funeral in the West Bank city of Tammun on Thursday. Credit: Majdi Mohammed / AP. Published by Haaretz

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by IMEMC News
Feb 4, 2025

A Palestinian man and two Israeli soldiers were killed and eight others injured, at dawn Tuesday, after an exchange of fire near the Tayasir military roadblock, northeast of Tubas in the northeastern part of the West Bank.

This operation comes at a time when the Israeli military continues its siege on the Al-Far’a refugee camp and the town of Tammun, southwest and south of Tubas, for the third consecutive day.

Israeli sources reported that two Israeli soldiers were killed and eight others were injured, including two seriously, while the Palestinian involved in the gun battle was killed; his identity was not known at the time of writing this report.

Occupation forces proceeded to close the Tayasir military roadblock in both directions, while soldiers were deployed in the area, amid the overhead flight of reconnaissance drones.

The Times of Israel reported that the alleged perpetrator infiltrated a military compound near the Tayasir military roadblock, where an exchange of fire took place.

The Israeli Channel 13 reported that military helicopters transported two of the wounded soldiers to the hospital for treatment.

Later on Tuesday morning, media sources indicated that occupation drones fired missiles at five sites in Tammun town, south of Tubas; no injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, the army abducted a Palestinian woman after invading her home in Tammun town, on Tuesday morning.

According to Kamal Bani Odeh, the director of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) in Tubas, said that Israeli forces abducted the woman, Inshirah Ali Tawfiq Bani Odeh, in an attempt to coerce her husband to surrender himself to the army.

In the same context, occupation forces continued, for the third consecutive day, their military siege on the Al-Far’a refugee camp, southwest of Tubas, and the town of Tammun, south of the city.

The army maintains a strict siege of the Al-Far’a refugee camp, while military bulldozers continue to destroy the camp’s infrastructure, affecting the supply of water and electricity.

All entrances of the town of Tammun remain closed to all traffic, while military bulldozers continue to carry out
sabotage operations, damaging infrastructure in the town.
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'Never Experienced This Before': West Bank Palestinians Describe IDF Raid on Town as 'Collective Punishment'

by Jack Khoury for Haaretz
Feb 5, 2025

The West Bank town of Tammun hasn't seen sights like these for years, if ever – Israeli soldiers raiding the town in armored vehicles, taking over homes and forcing families to leave. The residents say they have no idea when they will be able to return.

Tammun, located in the northern West Bank around five kilometers south of Tubas, has a population of 17,000. Older residents say since Israel captured the West Bank in 1967, there have been numerous incidents – the first and second intifadas, raids, arrests and curfews.

But they have never before had the army evict people from homes and take them over, as has happened this week, they added.

Haj Riad Sabaa, 55, said dozens of soldiers came to his house Sunday morning and demanded that he and his family leave immediately. "We are eight people, including my 100-year-old mother," he said.

He told the soldiers they couldn't leave immediately, and "we started arguing. The army insisted that it wants to take over the house."

Eventually, he was forced to give in. "They said they wanted to stay for a week," he added. He called an ambulance to take his mother to another house in the town.

"I'm 55 years old," Sabaa continued. "I lived through the first and second intifadas. But I've never experienced something like this. There were incidents in the past. There were gun fights, there were curfews. But forcing people to leave their homes? That we never experienced before."

"I'm constantly calling my neighbors, but they tell me the army is still in the house," he said, "I hope this will end very soon. I hope we won't lose our house."

Tammun's mayor, Najeh Bani Odeh, said this was collective punishment. He has been trying to draw international attention to what is happening in the town in hopes of putting pressure on Israel and the army. He said the army has already caused massive damage to Tammun's water and electricity infrastructure, and the town has been completely cut off from the rest of the West Bank.

"The situation is getting worse from day to day," he added. "The army has damaged the infrastructure. The entire town has been disconnected from the water supply and many neighborhoods don't have power. We're dealing with problems we haven't experienced in the past. They want to punish the entire community over security incidents that happened a few weeks ago."

Bani Odeh also spoke about an Israeli airstrike on the city hall, where the army said armed men had been staying. Ten Palestinians were killed in the attack. The army said two of them were Omar Bisharat and Muntaser Bani Odeh, who were involved in setting off an improvised explosive device in the village that killed Sgt. 1st Class (res.) Eviatar Ben Yehuda, 31, in January.

Yet both the mayor and other residents say that since the airstrike on city hall, there has been no sign of resistance to the army. Consequently, residents are convinced that the operation in their town is no longer about arresting or killing armed men but merely collective punishment for the soldier's killing.

Two weeks before the attack that killed Ben Yehuda, two children were killed in a drone strike on Tammun – Hamza and Rida Bisharat, aged 10 and 8, along with their 23-year-old uncle, Adam Khair al-Din Ahmed Bisharat. The army's investigation of the incident said it was "hard to discern that they were minors."

On Sunday, the army said its Operation Iron Wall, which began 10 days ago in Jenin, was being expanded to Tammun. Over the past two days, at least 24 residents of the town have been arrested. Residents said army drones monitor all movement in the town, and any attempt to go shopping is met by gunfire from either the soldiers or the drones.

Palestinians in Tul Karm also said large numbers of troops raided homes in both the city and its refugee camp on Tuesday, especially the eastern neighborhoods, and forced the residents to leave. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said the troops took over several commercial and residential buildings on the outskirts of the refugee camp, turned them into army outposts and stationed snipers in them.

Residents of both the town and the refugee camp are demanding that someone provide them with basic necessities, such as food, water, medicines and baby formula. They said the army has destroyed a lot of infrastructure, especially in the refugee camp.

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