Israel killed three Palestinians in a drone strike on Thursday in Tulkarem, a metropolis and refugee camp within the occupied West Financial institution.
That was throughout an Israeli raid – a near-daily prevalence within the West Financial institution – on the Tulkarem refugee camp, throughout which Israeli troops clashed with fighters from the Qassam Brigades, the army wing of Hamas, in keeping with fighters within the metropolis.
Right here’s all that you must find out about Israeli raids on Tulkarem:
What occurred in the course of the raid?
Information studies say Israeli troopers had been deployed on rooftops and despatched bulldozers into the camp to destroy giant residential areas.
Israel additionally reportedly set hearth to individuals’s houses and prevented native aid staff from placing the fires out.
Consultants say Israel’s ways throughout its raids look like a part of a broader doctrine to collectively punish the inhabitants, ostensibly as a result of pockets of armed resistance are combating again in opposition to Israel’s ever-entrenching occupation.
Why is Israel attacking individuals in a refugee camp?
Israel claims that it’s conducting “counter-terrorism” operations.
Are there ‘terrorists’ within the camps?
Activists and specialists have previously told Al Jazeera that Israel is enjoying up the specter of “terrorism” to justify the mass displacement of Palestinians and the growth of unlawful settlements.
Refugee camps throughout the West Financial institution are inclined to harbour Palestinian fighters loosely affiliated with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) or Fatah.
The fighters say they’re defending their camps and cities from Israeli raids that goal to uproot civilians from their houses and lands.
However Israel says the raids are to arrest people solely?
Shadi Abdullah, an activist documenting abuses by Israel in Tulkarem, says Israeli troops use bulldozers to destroy houses and infrastructure and so they additionally deliberately reduce off fundamental provisions to make life troublesome for the inhabitants.
As well as, he mentioned, Israeli safety forces cooperate with and assist Israelis from unlawful settlements in attacking civilians.
With Tulkarem mendacity between a number of settlements, he mentioned, “Individuals are always frightened of assaults from settlers and from the occupation forces.”
“In the long run… whether or not there are resistance fighters or not, they [Israel] need to take our land,” Abdullah mentioned.
Why Tulkarem?
Tulkarem has fertile agricultural land because of its abundance of pure water, activists and rights teams say.
However the unlawful Israeli settlements arrange lately have compelled Palestinian farmers and inhabitants to rely on pricey tanker water and rainwater collection systems as a result of settlers have stolen land with water assets.
Abdullah mentioned the inhabitants density in Tulkarem metropolis and the refugee camp is kind of excessive as a result of compelled displacement of Palestinians from surrounding areas.
The destruction of residential areas in raids makes the inhabitants density even increased as individuals transfer from devastated areas into ones they hope can be protected.
How does Israel perform these raids?
Israel has prior to now dispatched forces disguised as Palestinians to do reconnaissance on a camp earlier than approving a raid.
Israeli troops will then enter the camps with bulldozers to destroy faculties, hospitals and houses. These closely armoured machines are sometimes accompanied by drones and helicopters for air cowl.
Drones, specifically, play a considerable position in Israeli raids, as they did within the Thursday strike that killed three Palestinians.
Earlier this month, Israeli forces used drones to kill 11 Palestinians in Jenin, one other West Financial institution metropolis the place armed resistance has emerged during the last three years.
Israel additionally used drones to focus on the Nur Shams camp on July 3, killing 4 Palestinians.
The usage of such weapons, says Abdullah, is a part of a broader try to scare a youthful technology of Palestinians from partaking in armed resistance.
He added that Israel might also be making an attempt to push the inhabitants of the camps in charge resistance fighters for the destruction.
However, Abdullah says, that tactic doesn’t work.
“There isn’t any distinction between the civilians and armed fighters,” he mentioned. “All of us take part in resistance, however we take part in numerous methods. Civilians don’t need fighters to cease combating. Quite the opposite, they simply need the Israeli occupation to finish.”