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Scene. Published by IMEMC News
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Feb 6, 2025

The Israeli occupation forces continued their aggression on the city of Tulkarem and its camp for the 11th consecutive day, amidst comprehensive destruction, mass displacement and unprecedented military reinforcements.

In the early hours of the morning, before dawn on Wednesday, the Israeli occupation forces fired randomly and intensively at citizens’ homes in Tulkarm camp and Al-Sikka Street near the Iktaba suburb, without any injuries being reported.

A correspondent with the Wafa news agency reported that the Israeli occupation forces continue to send more additional military reinforcements, especially infantry, from the direction of the “Tsnaoz” military camp west of the city, passing through the streets leading to the camp.

These forces are deployed heavily in front of the main northern entrance to the camp, and in the agricultural lands opposite the camp, where the troops are conducting combing and searching operations.

The soldiers have seized several residential buildings surrounding and overlooking the camp, and have turned them into military barracks.

This deployment coincides with the widespread presence of Israeli occupation soldiers inside the camp’s neighborhoods and alleys, along with the deployment of large numbers of sniper teams inside Palestinian homes that they have commandeered. The snipers wait on the rooftops and look for anyone leaving their homes to go onto the street for any reason, and open fire.

The camp is experiencing a tragic situation with a complete siege by the Israeli military, including widespread raids on homes by the Israeli occupation forces, who have been vandalizing and destroying Palestinian homes, expelling the residents, forcing thousands of residents out of the camp. The only people left in the camp are a few hundred who live on the outskirts of the camp, specifically the Qaqun neighborhood.

The escalating Israeli aggression on the city and its camp has caused unprecedented and comprehensive destruction in the camp, affecting the entire infrastructure of electricity, water, communications and internet networks, in addition to the total and partial destruction of homes, shops and institutions, and their exposure to burning and bombing, which has deepened the suffering of the camp and the remaining residents.

Videos and photos captured by Palestinian citizens inside the camp showed the massive destruction of homes in Al-Ghanem neighborhood, with many partially destroyed homes and others completely burned, alleys filled with rubble, dilapidated infrastructure, and an area completely empty of residents, as if the place had been hit by an earthquake.

Citizens who are still in their homes in Qaqun neighborhood, trapped amidst the destruction, have appealed for urgent humanitarian aid to be sent to them, including food, water, medicines for the elderly and those with chronic diseases, and baby formula, especially with the interruption of water, electricity, and basic services as a result of this escalating aggression.

Yesterday, the Israeli occupation army prevented the Palestinian Red Crescent Society crews, who were distributing aid to the residents inside the camp, from continuing the distribution process, under the pretext that the deadline it had set for them had expired, and forced them to leave.

In the city of Tulkarem, Israeli infantry forces were deployed heavily in the eastern neighborhood of the city, and they raided homes, specifically those located at the Abu Safiya junction adjacent to and close to the camp, while smashing and vandalizing their contents, checking the identities of their residents and subjecting them to interrogation, and converting a number of the homes into military barracks.

Tuesday night, the occupation forces stationed around the Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital fired heavy bullets at the live broadcast cameras of the local “Peace” TV, while they were covering the aggression on the camp, which caused the broadcast to be completely cut off.

A force of infantry soldiers stormed the Al-Adawiya Girls’ School building, which is close to the Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital, and deployed snipers at its windows, while continuing its siege of the hospital, and using the adjacent Al-Adawiya Commercial Building as a military barracks, amidst a heavy presence of infantry soldiers at its entrances, obstructing the work of ambulances and medical crews.

According to the Mondoweiss news site, in Tulkarem, life has been “paralyzed,” stated Mu’men Hamed, a resident of Tulkarem and member of Jadayel, a local cultural association that has shifted its work to first response and humanitarian assistance ever since Israel intensified its military crackdown in Tulkarem in the wake of October 7, 2023.

“There is no commerce in the streets; shops are closed, schools are closed, too, and streets are empty of residents,” Hamed told Mondoweiss. “Only Israeli soldiers are present.”

“People are confined to their homes and can’t go to work or open their businesses. We as local associations try to get food, medicine, and blankets to the most needy families, but it’s extremely difficult to reach some places, especially the Tulkarem refugee camp,” Hamed went on.

“The most difficult part is the displaced people who have been forced out of their homes in the Tulkarem camp. They are in the thousands with no place to go,” he said. “About ten associations in the city are trying to find places to accommodate them, but it’s not easy to find enough apartments for free, let alone the ability to meet their basic needs. It’s hardest with families with children and the elderly or the sick.”

Hamed said that even Tulkarem’s city center, which is usually a vibrant commercial area, is paralyzed. “Although people are still allowed to leave the city and come back, most people stay at home, bracing for the home demolitions to expand from the camp to other parts of the city. We are expecting the worst.”

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