UPDATES WITH HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE, DETAILS ABOUT ISRAELI ARMY WITHDRAWAL FROM TUBAS, DEATH TOLL
By Ayser Al-Ais
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - The Israeli army on Thursday evening withdrew from the northern West Bank cities of Tulkarem and Tubas, ending a days-long two military offensives that killed 14 Palestinians.
Following the withdrawal from Tulkarem, where eight Palestinians were killed during the three-day military offensives, the municipality began clearing debris left by Israeli bulldozers in the city's refugee camp.
Relief teams entered the camp and started distributing food among the affected families.
Um Mohammed Al-Ghanem, a resident of the Tulkarem refugee camp, recounted the Israeli soldiers' raid on her home and the damage they caused.
She told Anadolu that around 30 soldiers stormed her home, causing extensive damage and creating a hole in one of the walls.
“The soldiers forced us to move to a neighboring house and occupied our home. Later, we heard a loud explosion and saw thick smoke.
The army had blown up the neighbors' house, and the fire extended to our home,” she added.
Al-Ghanem noted that controlling the fire was difficult due to the lack of water in the camp.
On Tuesday, the Israeli army launched a military operation in Tulkarem and its refugee camp, killing 8 Palestinians, according to official Palestinian figures.
During the operation, the Israeli army also destroyed infrastructure and Palestinian homes in Tulkarem, displacing dozens of families, according to local sources.
Later, the army withdrew from Tubas, in the northern West Bank, following a two-day military offensive that claimed the lives of six Palestinians.
The Israeli army imposed a curfew on the city and surrounding areas, as well as a siege of the Tubas Turkish Government Hospital, the city's only hospital, beginning early Wednesday.
Military vehicles were seen leaving the city amid clashes between Palestinian fighters and Israeli troops during the withdrawal, eyewitnesses told Anadolu.
Tension has been running high across the West Bank amid Israel’s devastating military offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 41,100 victims, mostly women and children, since last Oct. 7.
Over 700 people have since been killed and more than 5,700 injured by Israeli fire in the West Bank, according to the Health Ministry.
The escalation followed a landmark opinion by the International Court of Justice on July 19 that declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul