The Israeli raids on the Nur Shams and Fawwar refugee camps followed a pattern of deadly attacks that have killed more than 300 people in the West Bank since October 7, doctors and politicians say.
Fawwar, occupied West Bank – It was 1 a.m. when the first injured arrived at the Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in the town of Tulkarem.
There were six of them, all with life-threatening injuries, said Dr. Iyad al-Aqqad, the hospital's medical director. They were victims of an Israeli bombing of the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem, during a raid that began on the night of December 26 and continued until the early hours of the following day.
It was the second time in 24 hours that Israeli forces stormed the camp, entering several houses and dropping at least two bombs, including on an industrial facility. Israeli soldiers, both in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, are often accused of failing to allow ambulances to reach the wounded promptly. That's what happened in Nur Shams, witnesses and doctors say – a two-hour delay during which the six men bled.
By the time they were taken to Al-Aqqad Hospital, it was too late to save them.
The six joined a growing list of Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers and illegal settlers in the West Bank since October 7, when a Hamas attack on southern Israel sparked a deadly war of retaliation focused on Gaza but not limited to this. Since then, Israeli bombing and artillery strikes have killed more than 21,000 people in Gaza, while Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed more than 300 people in the West Bank. At least 56 people were killed in the Tulkarem governorate itself, according to the Shireen Observatory, a nonprofit that tracks killings and arrests by Israeli forces.
Tens of thousands more were injured in Gaza and the West Bank. Shortly after the six victims of the Israeli bombing of Nur Shams arrived early on December 27, several other Palestinians were taken to Thabet Thabet government hospital with injuries from the attack. Three of them suffered serious upper body injuries.
And they all had harrowing stories to tell the doctors.
Radwan Balibla, head of the Tulkarem Doctors' Syndicate, said a soldier stabbed one of the victims in the neck as he was being taken to hospital in an ambulance. Others said they were beaten into the ambulance.
“They were told: 'We don't want you to reach the hospital and survive,'” Balibla told Al Jazeera.
Just a few hours later, Israel launched another attack, this time in the Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron. As Israeli troops entered homes and occupied the streets for hours, they faced confrontations with locals and then opened fire.
Ahmed Muhammad Yaghi, 17, and Ibrahim Majed al-Titi, 31, were killed. Rescue workers in the camp gave them first aid and took them to Yatta Government Hospital, but they died as a result of their serious injuries. Six other injured people were taken to hospitals for treatment.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, the Fatah movement's representative in the Fawwar camp, Muhammad Abu Esh, said that Israeli forces storm the camp almost daily. The Israeli army has also closed the entrances to the camp since October 7th, hindering the freedom of movement of Palestinians by denying entry and exit. The number of prisoners has now increased to 100 in Fawwar due to increasingly frequent raids.
Abu Esh said Israel stationed snipers in buildings and homes during this week's raid. Still, he added, “Israel is wrong if it thinks it is scaring the people of al-Fawwar, especially its children.” “No attack will ever happen.”