TULKAREM (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have continued their brutal aggression against Tulkarem city and its refugee camp for the 69th day in a row, and for the 56th day on Nur Shams refugee camp, amid ongoing military escalation.
The IOF sent military reinforcements to the city and its two camps, Tulkarem and Nur Shams, at dawn Saturday, and deployed large infantry teams inside neighborhoods, storming homes and firing live ammunition and flare bombs.
Israeli troops have been stationed in several houses inside Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps, turning a number of them into military barracks, while army vehicles were deployed in various streets of the city, especially on Nablus Street and the surroundings of the two camps, amid an imposed siege on both of them.
The Nur Shams camp witnessed at dawn today heavy firing of flares, in conjunction with IOF raids into a number of houses in the Al-Maslakh neighborhood, where breaking and smashing sounds were heard coming from inside the houses. A military bulldozer “D10” was also seen moving in the neighborhood heading towards Jabal al-Nasr.
IOF soldiers were as well deployed in the vicinity of Nur Shams cemetery, as soldiers stormed it and carried out combing and search operations inside it, and dispatched reinforcements of military vehicles, including a water tank, to the Manshiya neighborhood in the camp.
Last night, the IOF stormed Tulkarem Camp, and fired flares in the Al-Matar neighborhood, as part of the ongoing escalation that affected all the neighborhoods of the camp, which have been evacuated due to forced displacement. It has also become completely devoid of life, after the complete destruction of its infrastructure as well as the sabotage, demolition and burning of dozens of its houses and facilities.
In a related context, IOF vehicles roamed the streets and neighborhoods of the city at night in a provocative manner, specifically in the city market area and the vicinity of Martyr Thabet Thabet Square, Hospital Street and Nablus Street.
The IOF has been encircling a number of houses and residential buildings in Nablus Street area and the northern neighborhood of the city, turning them into military barracks, restricting citizens’ movement by setting up makeshift military checkpoints on Nablus Street and closing it with earth mounds in both directions.
The ongoing aggression on the city and its two camps resulted in the martyrdom of 13 citizens, including a child and two women, one of whom is eight months pregnant, in addition to the injury and arrest of dozens of others, and the forced displacement of more than 4,000 families from Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps, in addition to dozens of families from the northern neighborhood of the city after their homes were seized and turned into military barracks.
The aggression also caused widespread destruction to the infrastructure and property of citizens, including houses, shops and vehicles, which were completely and partially demolished, burned, vandalized, looted and stolen. The IOF destroyed 396 houses completely and 2,573 partially in Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps, in addition to closing their entrances and alleys with dirt mounds.
