RAMALLAH, July 9 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army ended on Tuesday a large-scale military operation in the West Bank city of Tulkarm and the Nour Shams refugee camp after more than 14 hours, Palestinian sources said.
Around 60 military vehicles, accompanied by six large bulldozers of various types, were deployed by the forces, which carried out bulldozing operations on infrastructure, including telecommunications, electricity, water, and sewage systems, causing extensive destruction, Palestinian security sources told Xinhua.
Israeli forces surrounded hospitals in the city and destroyed a main road connecting the cities of Nablus and Tulkarm, according to the sources.
Several explosions were heard, caused by improvised explosive devices placed by Palestinian militants in the path of the Israeli vehicles, according to local sources and eyewitnesses.
Faisal Salama, head of the Popular Committee for Refugee Services in Nur Shams camp, told Xinhua that dozens of families left their homes, which were partially or completely destroyed.
Salama mentioned that the Israeli forces raided homes in the camp, conducted field interrogations with their residents, and then detained them in the school belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
He mentioned that the Israeli bulldozers opened new roads within the camp, which previously could not accommodate their passage, leading to the destruction of shops and homes.
Mustafa Taqatqa, governor of Tulkarm in the Palestinian Authority, condemned the repeated destruction and bulldozing of infrastructure in the city and its camp in an interview with Xinhua.
He said that the Israeli offensives caused widespread destruction in the city, especially targeting the main roads linking it to Nablus and the area adjacent to the Nur Shams camp, noting that the Israeli bulldozers dug a large trench over two meters deep.
He added that the Israeli forces cut off water and electricity and even destroyed the telecommunications network in the city and the camp, futilely pressuring the residents to surrender.
Sami Hajawi, a local government minister, accused the Israeli army of executing a "systematic plan" to target Palestinian camps and cities by destroying infrastructure, water, electricity, and sewage networks, and even residential homes, to make the camps uninhabitable.
There has been no comment from the Israeli army.
The West Bank has been witnessing escalating tension marked by armed confrontations between Israeli troops and Palestinians in cities, villages, and camps since the start of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip in October last year.
Israel has killed more than 500 Palestinians with airstrikes and gunfire in various parts of the West Bank and east of Jerusalem since the outbreak of the conflict, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. ■
