The current Israeli raids have targeted Palestinian militants in Jenin and Tulkarm, who the Israeli military says have attempted more than 150 attacks on Israelis over the past year. Earlier this month, Hamas and Islamic Jihad — two major Palestinian armed groups — took responsibility for an attempted bombing in Tel Aviv that moderately injured one passerby and killed the assailant.
The Israeli operation in Tulkarm focused on Nur Shams, which lies on the outskirts of the city. Historically a refugee camp for Palestinians following the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s establishment, it is now a built-up neighborhood and a Palestinian militant stronghold.
Israeli forces have swept through it multiple times since Oct. 7, often for hours on end, tearing up roads and damaging buildings. Israeli drones launched attacks from the air — once rare in the West Bank but now common — targeting militants in cars and houses.
On Friday, one family marched through the area’s streets bearing the body of Ayed Abu al-Heija, an older relative killed during the raid. He lived alone, did not work and suffered from mental illness that left him unable to care for himself without help, his family said.
Haitham Abu al-Heija, a 53-year-old nephew, said he heard a gunshot ring out Wednesday as he huddled in his house, fearing he might be caught in the crossfire. He later peered gingerly out of a window and saw his uncle lying dead, the door of his house ajar, he said.
“He couldn’t understand the danger,” he said in a phone interview.
The following day, Israeli troops raided his own house, forcing him and his family outside, he said. The rattle of gunfire and intermittent explosions terrified his children, he said, as they waited, exposed, for roughly an hour in the open.
Surrounded by soldiers, he turned to see his uncle’s body still lying in the doorway, he said. When the soldiers let them go back inside, they found a massive blast hole in one of the rooms.
“May no one ever have to go through what we did these last few days,” he said.
Read More: As Israel Keeps Fighting in West Bank, Residents in One Battle Zone Reel From the Damage
