An Israeli drone strike killed two Palestinians near Tulkarm, sparking further clashes amid military escalation in the West Bank.
Two Palestinians were killed on Monday in an Israeli drone strike targeting a vehicle on Nablus Street near Nur Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarm in the northern occupied West Bank.
The strike was followed by an Israeli military raid into the city and the siege of Thabet Thabet Hospital amid reports of a second strike, the details of which remain unclear.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed the deaths of two Palestinians and the injury of three others as a result of the Israeli drone strike.
According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, the drone targeted a vehicle passing along Nablus Street at the entrance to Nur Shams camp, setting it ablaze and killing two men, identified as Ramez Damiri and Ihab Abu Attiya, both residents of Tulkarm refugee camp.
BREAKING | At least one Palestinian has been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in the Nour Shams camp of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/mII0Cl7OeY
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) January 27, 2025
The Israeli military acknowledged targeting the vehicle in a joint operation with the Shin Bet internal security agency but did not specify the intended targets of the operation.
Local sources reported a second Israeli airstrike in Tulkarm, with unconfirmed reports of additional casualties.
Siege and Arrests
Al-Jazeera cited eyewitnesses as stating that Israeli forces surrounded Thabet Thabet Hospital in Tulkarm amid intense gunfire in the Nur Shams camp following reports of an incursion by Israeli special forces.
Israeli troops were reported to have deployed across several neighborhoods in Tulkarm, reinforcing their presence with military units, and storming the Shweikeh suburb in the northern part of the city.
The incursion also saw the detention of several Palestinians, while Red Crescent paramedics reported one person wounded by Israeli gunfire during clashes in the Tulkarm refugee camp.
Israel’s Channel 14 reported that the Israeli government has directed the military to expand its operations in the West Bank beyond Jenin, though no official statement has been issued.
The campaign in Tulkarm comes just a week after an extensive military assault in Jenin and its refugee camp.
The commander of the Qassam Brigades in Tulkarem camp, Ihab Abu Attiya, was assassinated in the bombing of a vehicle in Nour Shams camp. Is this ceasefire a fake truce.. to find and target fighters ??
Considering that Trump is sending new weapons!? pic.twitter.com/rPGGHY7F2h— Brunella C. (@BrunellaCapitan) January 27, 2025
Hamas Response
The Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas movement mourned the deaths of its members Abu Attiya and Damiri, describing the attack as an assassination in the Tulkarm camp.
In a statement, the group condemned the killings as a continuation of Israeli crimes, vowing that “the blood of the martyrs will not be in vain.”
Hamas called on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to escalate resistance and intensify confrontations with the occupation forces.
The attack in Tulkarm occurred as Israel continued its military operations in Jenin for the seventh consecutive day, targeting Palestinians and their property in the city and its refugee camp in the northern West Bank.
(PC, AJA)
I am reminded of something Corrie ten Boom reported her father Casper ten Boom once saying of the Nazi occupation in the Netherlands – “They have sown the wind; they will reap the whirlwind”, which seems an adequate summing up of the Israeli army’s behaviour in the West Bank. Israel has sown the wind; they will reap the whirlwind.