Palestinian official says Israel committing ‘genocide’ in Nur Shams camp in occupied West Bank

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - An official in the Palestine Liberation Organization said on Saturday that Israel is committing a “genocide” in the Nur Shams camp for the third day in a row as the Israeli army continues to storm the Tulkarm city and the Nur Shams camp resulting in several casualties.

“The siege has been ongoing since Thursday evening. The Israeli army is besieging the camp from all sides. No one can enter or leave it,” Mu’ayyad Shaa’ban, the head of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, told Anadolu.

“The situation is catastrophic and difficult in every sense of the word,” he said.

Shaa’ban pointed out that "the Israeli army forces bombed Palestinian homes with Energa bombs where two martyrs were officially reported."

“A number of martyrs are believed to be on the streets and neither ambulances nor even citizens can reach them,” he added.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said on Friday that “the Israeli army continues to prevent ambulances from entering the Nur Shams camp in Tulkarm in the West Bank thus obstructing the transfer of injured people.”

The Palestinian official said the Israeli army is arresting dozens of residents.

Shaa’ban called on the international community to intervene urgently to save the residents and allow medical teams to enter the camp to evacuate the casualties.

“All residents of the camp have become hostages with no food or electricity, cut off from the outside world due to the ongoing siege and military operations,” Shaa’ban said.

Late Thursday, Israeli Army Radio announced that the army began implementing a "broad-scale military operation" in the Nur Shams refugee camp, without specifying the objective or duration.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, affiliated with the Fatah party, and the Jerusalem Brigades, the military arm of the Islamic Jihad movement, announced in separate statements that they are engaging in fights with the army.

Parallel to its ongoing war on Gaza since Oct 7, the Israeli army has escalated raids and arrests in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem.

The destructive war on Gaza has resulted in more than 34,000 deaths and injuries, most of them children and women, along with massive destruction and a famine that claimed the lives of children and elderly, according to Palestinian and international data.

Israel continues this war despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire. Tel Aviv is also facing charges of committing "genocide" before the International Court of Justice.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi