West Bank Carnage: 14 Palestinians Perish in Israel’s Most Devastating Strike

Ramallah: At least 14 Palestinians have lost their lives in an ongoing Israeli military operation spanning three consecutive days in Tulkarm city and the refugee camp in the northern West Bank, as reported by the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Ministry conveyed in a press release to Xinhua news agency on Saturday that the bodies of these 14 Palestinians were transferred to Tulkarm Hospital from the Nour Shams Palestinian refugee camp situated east of the city.

Details beyond this were not provided in the statement, as reported by Xinhua news agency. Palestinian security sources indicated that Israeli forces, accompanied by military bulldozers, entered the camp on Thursday, initiating a stringent siege and demolishing key streets, infrastructure, residential buildings, and shops. These sources noted that this ongoing military operation, coinciding with power outages, water shortages, and disruptions in communication and internet services within the camp, marked the most severe in years. Sniper units were positioned on the roofs of tall buildings while other forces demolished several houses using guided missiles.

Local sources and eyewitnesses reported clashes between the army and Palestinian gunmen, accompanied by the sound of explosions from homemade explosive devices. The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), declared in separate statements that their members engaged in intense clashes with Israeli forces in the camp.

Israeli public radio reported that the army, alongside the internal security agency Shin Bet and the Israeli police, eliminated a number of Palestinian militants during clashes in a wide-scale military operation within the refugee camp.

As per the radio report, those killed included Mohammed Jaber, also known as Abu Shuja, the commander of the Tulkarm Battalion of the Islamic Jihad Movement, and another activist named Ahmed Al-Aarif.

The radio further cited a military spokesperson stating that during the ongoing operation, eight wanted individuals were apprehended, explosive devices and tunnels were confiscated, and workshops involved in producing explosive devices within the camp were dismantled.

The West Bank has witnessed escalating tensions characterized by armed confrontations between Israeli troops and Palestinians in cities, villages, and camps since the onset of the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip on October 7th of the previous year.

Earlier on Saturday, an ambulance driver from Palestine was fatally shot by Israeli gunfire in Nablus city in the northern West Bank. Since the conflict began, Israel has carried out airstrikes and gunfire resulting in the deaths of over 460 Palestinians across various parts of the West Bank and east of Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.