West Bank: Israeli forces kill 14 Palestinians in days-long refugee camp assault
Israeli forces withdrew from a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Saturday following a deadly two-day raid likened by Palestinians to the intensity of Second Intifada attacks.
The assault began late on Thursday with Israeli armoured vehicles and troops surrounding the Nur Shams refugee camp east of Tulkarm city.
For more than 50 hours, Israeli forces maintained a siege on the camp while they shot at residents, arrested scores of people and destroyed homes.
"I saw one of my relatives, Jihad Zandiq, put his hands in the air to the soldiers but then they shot him anyway from point-blank range and killed him. Half of his skull exploded," Mahmoud Qazmouz, an eyewitness, told Middle East Eye.
"Another young man was burned with incendiary bombs and his charred body remained on the street until we pulled him out two days later," he added.
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Palestinians, including those killed and wounded, were trapped inside the camp without access to medical assistance for the duration of the raid, as ambulances were blocked by Israeli forces.
A volunteer paramedic was shot in his leg when attempting to reach a wounded man, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
'What happened in the camp was like an earthquake. We have never never experienced this before'
- Mahmoud Qazmouz, an eyewitness
For two days, the ministry said its staff were unable to enter the camp despite multiple reports of casualties and pleas for help.
Bodies strewn on the streets began to rot and emit foul odours, according to Qazmouz, as residents were forced to hide in their homes while military bulldozers razed roads and shops.
On Saturday evening, medical teams and journalists finally reached the affected areas in the camp after Israeli soldiers withdrew.
A total of 14 bodies were recovered by residents and paramedics, including that of a 15-year-old boy. More than 40 people had been wounded.
"One of those killed, Raja’i Abu Sweilem, died from shelling that hit house when he went inside to check on his elderly mother," Qazmouz, who helped recover some of the bodies, said. "We found him in pieces."
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Another one of those killed was Salim Ghannam, 29, who was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper, according to Wafa Qaradawi, his sister-in-law.
Ghannam was standing outside his house when the camp was stormed and he was shot.
After being blocked from reaching the body by Israeli troops, his father managed to pull it back into the house.
"It happened in front of my house where I live in the apartment opposite them," Qaradawi told MEE.
"I saw blood and Salim was motionless. Everyone was screaming 'They killed Salim, they killed Salim'," she added.
Ghannam's body remained in the family home for an entire day as medics struggled to reach them.
Once the raid was over, the family later discovered that Mahmoud Ghannam, 26, Salim's brother, had also been killed elsewhere in the camp during the assault.
Their deaths came six months after their two other brothers, Amer and Ahmed, were also killed by Israeli forces.
"The situation at my in-laws is emotional after all this loss. Four brothers in six months, and the fifth, my husband, died in November in a work accident," Qaradawi said.
"We don't know how we will continue our lives."
Rising Israeli violence
Also during the raid, Israeli forces destroyed several homes and caused widespread damage to infrastructure, according to the residents.
The Israeli military said 10 "gunmen" were killed and eight "wanted Palestinians" were detained during the operation.
It added that nine soldiers were wounded in clashes with Palestinian fighters who detonated explosive devices and exchanged fire with Israeli troops.
Some residents described the intensity of the assault as similar to the Israeli incursions during the Second Intifada, or uprising, of 2000 to 2005.
"Every time we say 'this is the harshest raid,' then the next raid comes and it's much harsher," Qazmouz said.
"What happened in the camp was like an earthquake. It doesn't feel like it was man-made. We have never never experienced this before."
Amer Qazmouz, another resident of the camp who was not in his home during the raid, returned after Israeli forces withdrew.
He had learnt from his neighbours that the house caught on fire, but he couldn't reach it until Saturday night.
"I found the house in a disastrous condition. The kitchen was burned because the soldiers used the oven and didn’t turn it off and the fire reached the centre of the house," he said.
A general strike was announced across the West Bank to mourn the dead, with calls for residents to confront Israeli soldiers at checkpoints.
On Sunday morning, two Palestinians were shot dead near Hebron after allegedly attempting an attack against Israeli soldiers.
Shootings were also reported near Jenin and Ramallah. There were no Israeli casualties.
The attack on Nur Shams came as Israeli violence by the army and settlers reached record levels since the war on Gaza began in October.
Israeli forces have stepped up large-scale raids in towns, cities and refugee camps across the West Bank since.
At least 485 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in the West Bank since 7 October, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Thousands more have been wounded and arrested.
At least an additional 34,000 have been killed in Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip.
Around 1,500 Israelis have been killed in the same period, the majority of them during the Hamas-led attack on 7 October.
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