For the 41st consecutive day, the Israeli occupation forces continue their military aggression on the city of Tulkarm and its camp, while Nour Shams camp has been subjected to a stifling siege for 28 days. The widespread violations included repeated raids, systematic destruction of infrastructure, and unprecedented forced displacement operations.
On Saturday, the occupation forces sent more military reinforcements to the city of Tulkarm and its two camps, where their vehicles and infantry squads were stationed at the entrances to the camps. They carried out raids and forced searches of homes, while firing live ammunition, sound bombs, and flash bombs at the citizens.
Nablus Street, which connects the two camps, witnessed strict searches and arbitrary detention of citizens, while surveillance cameras were installed on the roofs of the houses that the occupation forces seized and turned into military barracks.
Moreover, the occupation soldiers opened heavy fire at the residents of Tulkarm camp while trying to return to their homes, and detained a number of them, threatening to shoot them if they returned again.
The Nour Shams camp also witnessed massive destruction, as the occupation bulldozers systematically destroyed the infrastructure, demolishing 28 homes in one week, as part of a policy aimed at changing the geographical features of the camp.
According to the Popular Committee for Services in Nour Shams camp, the occupation forces are following a “scorched earth” strategy, by destroying homes and infrastructure, with the aim of forcing the Palestinians to flee, which constitutes a crime of forced displacement, classified under international law as a crime against humanity.
This aggression led to the displacement of more than 9,000 Palestinians from Nour Shams camp, and 12,000 from Tulkarm camp, in the largest wave of forced displacement witnessed by the West Bank since the 1967 setback.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) also confirmed that these camps have become “uninhabitable”, and that the occupation is deliberately destroying civilian life there, which is a clear violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the forced transfer of residents from their lands.
The Israeli violations in Tulkarm and its camp requires immediate action by the international community, the United Nations, and the International Criminal Court to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for these crimes, take urgent measures to protect the civilian population in Tulkarm and its camps, open an international investigation into the crimes of arson and displacement, and impose sanctions on the occupation to stop its ongoing aggression against the Palestinians.
