Israel kills 14 Palestinians in worst military operation in West Bank in war international

“My son Jihad had Israeli citizenship,” laments Zandik Niaz, 40, amid hugs and signs of respect during the funeral. The boy turned 15 on Saturday, the day a bullet fired by Israeli occupation soldiers ended his life, according to his father’s story. “He’s already in heaven,” he comments, holding on to his faith as a way of acknowledging that “Allah wanted to take him away.” Jihad is one of 14 dead left by Israeli forces as a result of the incursion into the Palestinian refugee camp of Nur Shams (Tulkarem), which began late Thursday night and lasted for 48 hours. Noor Shams is devastated.

It is the operation with the highest number of deaths carried out by the Jewish state in the West Bank since the current war began on October 7. This Sunday, thousands of people dressed in black bid farewell to those they consider martyrs for the Palestinian movement in a massive funeral amid gunfire in the air. To Israeli authorities, they are terrorists.

Not among the 14 victims of armed resistance against the occupation is the head of the famous Tulkrem Brigade. Mohammed Jaber, alias Abu Shuja, despite the fact that he has been reported dead by various media outlets this weekend. He is one of the most wanted men in the West Bank by Israel, which has tried to assassinate him several times.

But he had the courage to appear at the funeral services of Nur Shams, where he was hailed as a hero and carried on the shoulders surrounded by armed men. “We are Abu Shaja’s men!” Hundreds of people screamed as many of the bodies were carried away, as verified by EL Pais. He also told those who encountered the Israelis to fire into the air to conserve their ammunition.

The scene after the withdrawal of the soldiers is reminiscent of an earthquake. Or for images of Gaza. Buildings up to three floors collapsed. High and unpaved roads. Mountains of debris removed by excavators. Downed power lines. Sanitation and burst pipes. There is no water supply, electricity or internet. Army vehicles and hundreds of soldiers have destroyed homes, compounds and everything in their path over the course of two days. They have also riddled countless walls with bullets. Apart from Jihad, at least one other teenager is also among the dead. This is 16-year-old Qais Fathi Nasrallah, who was shot in the head while riding a scooter on the road.

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According to information revealed by the media, this operation coincides with the plan of the United States government to impose sanctions on the Netzah Yehuda battalion of the Israeli army, one of the ultra-Orthodox and those deployed in the West Bank, due to their For misbehavior. Axios. “If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on an Israeli military unit, I will fight them with all my might,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised in a statement this Sunday.

In the streets of Noor Shams there are scenes of families of the dead sitting on the road, women on one side, men on the other. Nearly a hundred people are consoling the family of 20-year-old Zafar Amar. There are two Hamas flags installed there, but his 40-year-old aunt Hana does not want to join any faction or armed group. “Jafar is Palestinian. The second thing, once dead, doesn’t matter.” Her husband, Moavya Amr, 50, accuses Israel of carrying out “collective punishment” of the entire refugee camp. He believes those in Has the ability to personally stop those he wants to kill. This specifically refers to Abu Shuja.

incited violence

Parallel to the war in Gaza, violence has skyrocketed in the West Bank, where Israeli security forces have detained more than 8,000 people and killed more than 1,100 during the current conflict. A doctor volunteering with the Red Crescent was killed on Saturday as he went to help the wounded during an attack on Jewish residents south of Nablus. Two more Palestinians were killed this Sunday. Israel alleges that they tried to attack its troops stationed near Hebron. All this, on the same day as the war continues in the Strip, where Palestinian emergency services have found a mass grave with dozens of bodies in the courtyard of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which was attacked by Israeli forces weeks ago. ,

Zandiq Niaz was detained during the military raid on Noor Shams, which began on Thursday evening. He was still in Israeli hands when the army killed his son Jihad. The family, Arabs of Israeli nationality and living in Taybeh, had gone to the West Bank to spend the weekend in the refugee camp where the grandfather lives. Zandik, who has two other sons and three daughters, shows his Jewish state driver’s license to confirm his claim that Israel has killed one of its citizens, even though he considers himself a Palestinian. Like the Zandik family, there are approximately two million Israeli Arabs, making up 20% of the population of 10 million.

“The Israelis don’t care, all Arabs deserve death,” Zandik complains and bursts into tears upon the arrival of his son’s group of friends, whom he embraces through tears. “I pay my taxes with which Israel maintains its army,” he says, showing cuts and bruises on his chest and left hip, reminiscent of the time he was detained during a military operation. I went. “I don’t care,” he says, responding to the officer to whom he showed his Israeli documents after his arrest.

The West Bank hosts approximately twenty refugee camps, descendants of Palestinians expelled from their places of origin when Israel was born as a state in 1948. In Nour Shams, originally founded with citizens of Haifa on the Israeli Mediterranean coast, about 13,500 people live according to 2022 data from the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). These camps, in which houses have been built over the years where tents once stood, are often the target of Israeli military raids. Adam Bouloucos, head of that organization in the West Bank, believes that these attacks and raids are part of a “new strategy” of the Israeli Armed Forces to destroy refugee camps, homes, roads, streets or sanitation infrastructure. Current war situation.

Several employees help Yousef Gul organize and clean his pharmacy. He shows projectile remains collected among the medicine cabinets. “They know that this pharmacy serves the entire rural area,” he laments without losing his patience. Like most of the people who visit Noor Shams, he seems immune to the terror around him. It seems as if Palestinians in the West Bank are already used to it and are repairing all the damage, knowing that sooner or later the Israeli forces will return.

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