Israeli military operations are intensifying in the West Bank. According to independent human rights organization B’Tselem, operations in areas like Tulkarm, Nur Shams, and Jenin refugee camps have practically rendered them uninhabited. The British news agency Reuters reported that at least 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced from these areas this year due to these operations.
Malek Lutfi, 51, said, “We were forced out six months ago. We still haven’t been able to return home.”
He is now barely managing to live in a small rented room in Tulkarm. However, since he cannot return to his electronics repair shop, his source of income has stopped. Worried about his children’s future, Lutfi says, “I try to go back and retrieve some things, but how much can one bring back in just two hours?”
B’Tselem stated that these operations, carried out under the pretext of ‘security’, have effectively become campaigns of home demolition and forced displacement of ordinary Palestinians.
Abdullah Kamil, the governor of Tulkarm, said, “There’s nothing left in the camp anymore. It has become a ghost place.” In recent weeks, 106 homes and 104 other structures have been destroyed. “This is purely a political decision, and it has nothing to do with security,” he added.
The Israeli military claims they are targeting “hotbeds of extremism” in areas like Jenin and Tulkarm. In their statement, they said that buildings are being demolished to ensure troops can move freely and that alternative options were considered before making these decisions.
However, Reuters eyewitnesses on the ground reported that houses were bulldozed by heavy machinery to build roads. Residents were seen loading chairs, blankets, and cooking equipment into vehicles to move to safer places.
Upon returning to Tulkarm, Lutfi said, “The destruction I’ve seen is beyond words. Roads have been widened, there’s no electricity, and the infrastructure has turned into rubble. Starting over will take a long time.”
This is being seen as the largest Israeli military operation in the West Bank since the Second Intifada in the 2000s. Since the operation began in January, Israel has used drones, helicopters, and for the first time in decades, tanks.
While efforts are ongoing for a ceasefire in Gaza, concerns are rising about the deteriorating situation in the West Bank. Shay Parnes, B’Tselem’s Director of Public Relations, said, “Israel is now applying the same strategies in the West Bank that it used in Gaza. These include systematic demolition of homes and infrastructure, and the forced expulsion of civilians from areas declared as military zones.”
Right-wing Israeli politicians have long demanded the annexation of the West Bank to Israel, though the government insists that these operations are only part of “counter-terrorism efforts.”
Governor Kamil said that economically devastated families are now crammed into mosques, schools, and relatives’ homes. “This is creating a severe humanitarian crisis for the displaced,” he warned.
