Israeli military bulldozers destroy roads in Tulkarem, impose siege on Nur Shams camp
Two Israeli military bulldozers have destroyed roads during a raid on Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency is reporting.
Israeli forces also imposed a siege on the Nur Shams refugee camp, in Tulkarem, with Israeli soldiers raiding homes and high-rise buildings as Israeli snipers were deployed on roofs, Wafa reported.
The Tulkarem Brigade, a group of Palestinian fighters from West Bank refugee camps, said they detonated an explosive device in an Israeli military bulldozer at the entrance to the Tulkarem camp, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report.
The raid comes after an Israeli strike on a home in Nur Shams camp killed a Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander and injured five others.
Israeli military bulldozers during a raid, on Tulkarem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on January 17
Israeli armoured vehicle drove over bomb in Nur Shams: Army Radio
We reported earlier that the Tulkarem Brigade claimed to have attacked Israeli forces as they besieged the Nur Shams refugee camp, in Tulkarem.
Israeli Army Radio is now reporting that an Israeli armoured vehicle drove over a bomb during the raid, and that more explosives were fired at Israeli soldiers as they exchanged fire with Palestinian fighters. A video shared by an Israeli Army Radio reporter on X shows a large plume of smoke rising from between buildings in Tulkarem.
The attack comes after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad said one of its fighters was killed in an Israeli air raid that destroyed a building in the Nur Shams camp, injuring five others.
Israeli soldiers take cover behind a military bulldozer during an Israeli raid in Deir al-Ghusun, in the occupied West Bank
Israeli troops arrest 16 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank
Israeli forces detained at least 16 Palestinians throughout the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports.
The detainees include a female student at Birzeit University, children, former prisoners, as well as five civilians from Gaza residing in the occupied West Bank, according to the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.
The figure includes those detained from their homes and at military checkpoints, those who surrendered under pressure, and those taken as hostages.
At least three Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank’s Ramallah, five in the city of el-Bireh and another one in the city of Nablus, according to the Wafa news agency.
The Israeli forces made the arrests at dawn, the report said, adding that those arrested in el-Bireh were from Gaza. The man arrested in Nablus was named as Qasim al-Aklik, a former prisoner who spent 20 years in an Israeli jail.
Footage shows destruction after Israeli incursion into Nur Shams camp
A video verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-finding agency documents the outbreak of a fire in a house as a result of its destruction by Israeli forces during the storming of the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem.
The footage also shows plumes of smoke rising from Nur Shams and remnants of an Israeli army vehicle later targeted with an explosive device in the camp.
انفجارات خلال اقتحام قوات الاحتلال طولكرم ومخيم نور شمس صباح اليوم#فيديو pic.twitter.com/a4f6Uenzd0
— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) July 1, 2024
Translation: Explosions during the occupation forces’ storming of Tulkarem and Nur Shams camp this morning.
Intense Israeli army raid ongoing in Nur Shams, Tulkarem
Residents are telling us even though Israeli forces started to withdraw, their raid continues with troops returning to the main street between the Nur Shams refugee camp and Tulkarem city.
A drone strike targeted a house in Tulkarem, killing a woman in her 40s after she was hit by shrapnel. In addition to that, a 15-year-old boy died after being hit by a live round to the head.
‘Large number’ of Israeli troops wounded: Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade
The armed wing of Fatah says its fighters confronted Israel’s forces in the occupied West Bank’s Nur Shams refugee camp with small-arms fire and explosive devices.
“We carried out a number of precise ambushes that directly injured a large number of soldiers and vehicles until they withdrew in defeat,” al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade said in a statement.
