Violence breeds more violence. And even more so in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The streets of Tulkarem (in the occupied West Bank), scene of a large funeral amid gunfire in the air, have been crying out for revenge this Tuesday after the previous day four Palestinians were shot dead in a car by Israeli forces in full force. Daylight and in front of the neighbors. The uniformed men had secretly entered the city with around 80,000 inhabitants in a van. A handful of red plastic flowers, blood stains, glass and a dented street lamp whose transport vehicle crashed and was stopped by bullets mark Mohammad Ibn Al-Qassem Street, the exact location of her death.
“They came to kill them, not to arrest them,” says Mehdi, 33 years old and one of the witnesses to the event consulted by EL PAÍS. He lives in the house in front of which the events took place. The video was shot from one of his windows and spread like wildfire on social media. There, the agents appear to have taken out the four men in the car at close range, ending with dozens of blows. They estimate the operation took no more than five minutes. The attackers then disappeared and the ambulances arrived within 10 minutes, it is said.
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In parallel with the war with Hamas in Gaza, Israeli security forces have multiplied their operations in the West Bank. According to the Palestinian Authority (PNA) Ministry of Health, more than 150 Palestinians have died in the area since the disaster began a month ago. In addition, more than 2,200 people were arrested, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Association. The four people killed in Tulkarem belonged to a Hamas “terrorist” cell from the Gaza Strip and abroad and were responsible for carrying out “dozens of firearms attacks and planning further attacks,” according to an army statement. The police and the Shin Bet (internal security service).
Although they look at each other with smiles, none of the residents of the house in front of which the fatal attack took place admit to being the author of the famous photo. “Come on, let’s go. “Work, work,” one can be heard shouting in Hebrew in the video to the half dozen uniformed police officers who approach the vehicle and open the doors as they dare to continue shooting to ensure security that they are all dead.
According to the official Palestinian agency Wafa, their names are Jihad Shihada, Ezzeddine Awad, Qasim Rajab and Momen Bal’awi. For the Palestinian press, they are “martyrs” for the cause. Israeli authorities name Shihada and Awad as the highest-ranking. Hours after the operation, the Israeli army carried out a raid on the Tulkarem refugee camp where the group was stationed, according to Israeli authorities. Neighbors say the troops stayed between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Tuesday. In the early morning, roads were completely destroyed by bulldozers, vehicles were destroyed and some houses were attacked, such as that of 25-year-old Islam Banna, who was hit by a projectile at the third floor level.
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Several women cry during the funeral of four Palestinians Jihad Maharaj Ibrahim Shehadeh (22), Izz al-Din Raed Hussein Awad (25), Qasim Muhammad Rajab (20) and Moamen Saed Mahmoud Balawi (20) in Tulkarem (West Bank). Alvaro García
Several men carry on their shoulders one of the four Palestinians killed by the Israeli army during the funeral on Tuesday, November 7, in Tulkarem in the West Bank. Alvaro García
Group of armed men at the funeral of the four Palestinians in Tulkarem, West Bank. Alvaro García
At the funeral on Tuesday, November 7, several women cry next to the body of one of the four murdered Palestinians. Alvaro Garcia
Dozens of Palestinians gather during the funeral of Jihad Maharaj Ibrahim Shehadeh, 22, Izz al-Din Raed Hussein Awad, 25, Qasim Muhammad Rajab, 20, and Moamen Saed Mahmoud Balawi, 20, who were killed by the Israeli army. Alvaro García
A man sobs during the funeral of the four Palestinians murdered by the Israeli army in Tulkarem (West Bank). Alvaro García
Dozens of women gather for the funeral of the four murdered Palestinians in Tulkarem in the West Bank on Tuesday, November 7. Alvaro Garcia
Another house affected by the military operation is that of Ezzedinne Awad, 27, one of the four killed on Monday. His father, Riad Awad, 52, accepts condolences as he sits on plastic chairs outside the house with other relatives. Meanwhile, several neighbors are carrying debris from a truck. “The occupying forces that murdered my son came at night,” the father said, adding that his wife was injured in the face. “They broke down the doors and went into our room. “They put us all on the streets,” he adds. When asked about his son, Riad Awad replied that he was part of the “resistance” and that “in the past he was a member of the Qassam Brigades,” the armed wing of Hamas.
“We will kill your son,” Awad claims Israeli authorities told him last August. Since then, the secret services have called him several times, threatened him and assured him that they would kill him, he reports. This Monday “they came to kill him, not to arrest him,” he concludes. “I think it was from Hamas,” said his uncle Nabil Awad, 49, sitting in another chair on the street that sustained enormous damage after the military operation.
“Religious, calm and lovely”
With so much foreshadowing, no one sheds a tear. According to his father, Ezzedinne Awad had never been to prison and was “very religious, quiet and lovely.” “His dream was to have a life, but that was impossible because of the occupation,” defends the father. In front of the Awads’ house and along the entire street, several trucks and excavators are trying to clear the refugee camp so that the mass burial can take place.
At 10 a.m., an angry procession of several thousand men, dozens of them armed and firing into the sky, leaves the hospital with the four bodies on stretchers on their shoulders. They march at a brisk pace toward the refugee camp, continuing to shout loud proclamations and intone the ever-present “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.”
On the way, in the scorching sun, some young people brush the flies from the faces of the deceased, who have wounds, bruises and bullet holes. There are residents wearing capes, headbands or green flags of Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules Gaza and whose armed wing claimed 1,400 lives on October 7 in an unprecedented attack on Israel that sparked the current war. There are also some yellow banners from Al Fatah, the secular party that dominates the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank. Some of the slogans revolve around the need for unity among the various Palestinian factions.
A funeral procession as massive as this Tuesday’s in Tulkarem transforms a Palestinian refugee camp into a true haven for the cause, the perfect breeding ground for new fighters to emerge in the face of the oppressive Israeli occupation. Dozens of children of all ages accompany their elders and scream with them amid a bath of guns, masked men, tears, hatred, violence and pain.
They walk through streets full of protest graffiti and the faces of the dead from all these years can be seen everywhere. The bodies are taken to their homes, where the women, who hardly take part in the procession, say goodbye to them. After the midday prayer in the mosque, we continue towards the cemetery. There they are buried in the same grave, separated by gray bricks. As tradition dictates, without a coffin. A man encourages the crowds through the public address system. He is the father of one of the four people executed by Israel. “Soon there will be revenge!” he assures.
Violence breeds more violence. And even more so in the Arab-Israeli conflict. In the picture armed Palestinians during the funeral.Álvaro García
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