TULKARM, May 2, 2025 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation forces on Friday detained hundreds of Palestinians trying to retrieve their belongings from their houses in the Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps ahead of expected large-scale demolitions, according to WAFA correspondent.
She said that the occupation forces pursued hundreds of Palestinians whilst they were rushing to their houses to save their belongings in both refugee camps, opening intense gunfire at them and injuring a journalist by shrapnel in the foot.
The journalist, identified as Rou’a Duraydi, was rushed to a hospital in light condition.
The gun-toting soldiers escorted dozens of youths to interrogation centers in the refugee camps. They rounded up photojournalist Fadi Yassin from the vicinity of Bilal Mosque on the outskirts of the Tulkarm refugee camp.
Meanwhile, the occupation forces put up signs reading “No entry! – A closed military zone” at the entrances of the Tulkarm refugee camp.
This came as a large crowd gathered at the Gamal Abdel Nasser Square in Tulkarm in protest of the systematic Israeli policy of the demolition, torching, and blowing up of hundreds of apartments in both of the refugee camps.
Protestors affirmed their categorical rejection of Israeli plans to displace the inhabitants of the refugee camps and their commitment to their right to return given the fact that they and their fathers were originally driven out of their homes by the establishment of Israel in 1948.
On Thursday evening, the occupation forces issued demolition orders for 106 houses and buildings in the Nur Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps.
Abdullah Kmeil, governor of Tulkarm, confirmed the orders target 58 buildings in Tulkarm refugee camp and 48 houses in Nur Shams camp. Kmeil described the intended demolitions as a crime against humanity and asked the international community and human rights organizations to intervene immediately.
The occupying forces have given residents a 24-hour deadline to evacuate their properties in the Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps via notices given to the Palestinian Coordination and Liaison Office. Targeted houses have been outlined in red maps that were given along with the notices. The demolitions are being carried out for “military purposes.”
The occupation forces have been waging an offensive on both camps for 96 consecutive days, forcibly displacing more than 4,200 families, comprising over 25,000 people, completely demolishing 396 houses, destroying 2,753 others and imposing a suffocating siege on them.
K.F.
