Tulkarm refugees face toughest Ramadan in years amid major Israeli raid

Thousands have been forced out of the West Bank city's two camps as Israel's military operation destroys homes and roads

Residents speak to a soldier during Israeli military's raids on the Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps in the occupied West Bank. EPA

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Behind a locked door, Faisal Salameh, head of the Popular Services Committee of Tulkarm refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, somehow manages to make light of what it will be like to celebrate Ramadan in 2025, as the Israeli military continues the most intense raid in the history of his neighbourhood.

“I see this as a good opportunity. Given the shortage of food, it’s a good time for people to fast,” he said, grabbing a rare moment away from crowds of displaced camp residents looking to him, in increasing desperation, to provide them with the most basic of support after being forced to flee their homes when Israel launched its raid. Local authorities say 85 per cent of the population of Mr Salameh’s camp and of Nur Shams, a second, smaller refugee camp in Tulkarm city, have been displaced.

The raids in Tulkarm and on the Jenin refugee camp, also in the northern West Bank, are part of an Israeli "counter-terror operation" across the Palestinian territory, dubbed Iron Wall, that was launched soon after a ceasefire with the Hamas militant group in Gaza took effect on January 19. Many Palestinians believe it is an attempt by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to placate far-right ministers in his government who opposed the truce, some of whom are from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

A road in Tulkarm camp that was torn up by Israeli military bulldozers. Thomas Helm / The National

The operation has so far claimed 27 lives in Jenin and 13 in Tulkarm, according to the latest tolls reported by Palestinian news agency Wafa on Friday, and destroyed large areas of the densely populated camps that are home to Palestinian refugees uprooted by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. About 40,000 people have been displaced. The situation is now so bad that people are comparing their lot to that of Palestinians in Gaza, where an estimated 90 per cent of the 2.3 million population were forced to leave their homes during 15 months of war.

The crowd of distressed residents outside Mr Salameh’s office are demanding shelter, clothes, food and basic hygiene supplies. The raid on Tulkarm camp was so sudden and severe that people could only leave with “the clothes they were wearing”, said Manal Hafi, general director of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in Tulkarm, meaning that their needs are “massive”.

Despite being on the frontlines of trying to save people caught up in the raid, her staff are working overtime to pack Ramadan baskets for the displaced. “They include meat, rice, oil, frozen vegetables and sweets,” Ms Hafi said. “We want them to feel like they’re celebrating. They’ll be fasting for around 10 hours so will need good food.”

The PRCS, like Mr Salameh’s committee, is being stretched beyond its limits. Their small office in Tulkarm is buzzing with activity as paramedics, drivers and administrative staff come and go.

“Our teams evacuated 3,000 people from Tulkarm camp,” Ms Hafi said. “Some of the elderly we had to carry on our backs,” she added, explaining that the destruction of roads in the area by Israeli forces had made it impossible for them to walk.

Manal Hafi, right, general director of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Tulkarm, says the needs of displaced families are 'massive'. Thomas Helm / The National

During a brief drive through one of the camps, The National saw entire stretches of road turned into muddy ditches filled with water from broken water and sewage pipes underneath. The route passed a corner on which Mr Netanyahu stood last week during a rare and surprise visit to the city. "We are entering the terrorist strongholds, clearing entire streets used by terrorists, their homes. We are eliminating terrorists and commanders,” he said from the spot.

“One of the worst cases we saw in Tulkarm camp was an elderly man who was stuck alone in his house for more than a week with no supplies or connection to the outside world,” Ms Hafi said.

"Thank God, we got to him after a week. The first thing he did when we found him was put his hand to his mouth to gesture that he was starving.”

Red Crescent paramedics said the situation they encountered in Nur Shams was worse. One paramedic, Imran, 24, described how they came across a dead pregnant woman, Sundus Jamal Shalabi, 23.

“We found her by chance,” he said. “We were on another mission but saw her on the road with a bullet in her head.”

The medics tried to save her, as well as her unborn child, but did not succeed. Her husband, also shot in the head, remains in a critical condition in a hospital in Nablus. Imran knew him from school.

Taleb Mahmoud Abu Sariyeh, 70, and his wife fled their home in Tulkarm camp to a school building in the city's outskirts. Thomas Helm / The National

Taleb Mahmoud Abu Sariyeh, 70, a gardener, fled to an unfinished school in the hills on the city’s outskirts where dozens of families have sought shelter. He will spend Ramadan only one kilometre away from his home in the Tulkarm camp, living in a classroom with two mattresses on the floor for him and his wife.

“We can hear the shooting and bulldozers,” he said. “This is not displacement. It’s uprooting. They want to move us from our roots. They are not just destroying our houses. They are destroying our existence.”

Three floors above Mr Abu Sariyeh, on the roof of the school, Tulkarm resident Ramzi Hussein stood peering into the distance at the outlines of Caesarea and Netanya, Israeli cities where many of the refugees are from originally.

Mr Hussein pointed to the churned up roads and abandoned buildings of the camp to which his family fled around 75 years ago. “We are watching the destruction of our homes,” he said “There is no feeling like it.”