By Diana Khwaelid | December 19, 2024
Six Palestinians were killed in Israeli operations in Tulkarem and Balata camps in less than three hours on the morning of Thursday 19 December.
Four Palestinian youths were killed by Israeli forces in Tulkarem camp, in the latest of a string of outrages there.
At noon on Thursday 19 December, a civilian car carrying four Palestinians in the Al-Balawneh neighborhood of Tulkarem Camp exploded, killing the four passengers.
Eyewitnesses from Balawneh said that at around 1:30pm they heard the blast and saw a car in flames with four young men inside.
Thaer Sheikh Ali was at home at the time of the explosion. He describes it as powerful. He went out to see what happened, and says, “The bodies of the martyrs in the car were completely burned to the point that their shapes changed.” He adds that he saw an injured Palestinian on the ground, who was then taken to hospital.
According to the Palestinian eyewitnesses, they tried hard to extinguish the flames. Palestinian medical teams rushed to the scene to retrieve the bodies of the four martyrs from inside the car.
Balawneh is a busy neighborhood bustling with Palestinian residents and houses. That did not prevent the occupation forces from targeting the car.
On the same day, the Israeli occupation forces stormed Tulkarem with bulldozers in a five-hour destruction operation in both Balawneh and Okasha neighborhoods.
The Tulkarem refugee camp in Tulkarem City has seen many killings by the occupation forces, especially since 7 October last year. The lengthening list of martyrs causes deep sadness in the camp. These latest four are described as “the most beautiful ornaments of the camp”.
The National Action factions in the city of Tulkarem declared a period of mourning across the city for the four youths.
Balata Camp
On the same Thursday morning, the Israeli occupation forces stormed the Balata camp east of the city of Nablus to arrest a Palestinian militant in the camp. They failed, but Israeli snipers, while stationed in the camp, opened fire on unarmed civilians in the camp – killing, according to the Palestinian Health Organization, two Palestinians, including 80-year-old elderly woman. These are two more martyrs in the intensive attacks on this part of the West Bank.
