By Qais Abu Samra
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - A young Palestinian recounted how Israeli forces destroyed his family’s home in the occupied West Bank and set his father's car on fire while it was parked in front of the house.
Ahmed Nasser, 30, lives in the Iktaba neighborhood of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank. He was awakened at 6 a.m. on Thursday by the sound of gunfire being aimed at his home.
"For no reason, we were nearly killed by Israeli army gunfire,” Nasser described the moments he experienced with his wife and their 3-year-old twins.
"We woke up to the sound of bullets being fired at the house from all sides,” he told Anadolu. “I spent about 40 minutes under the bed with my wife and children. I shouted several times: What is going on, but to no avail.”
Nasser said his father's car, which was parked in front of the house, was hit by an anti-tank rifle grenade, burning it completely.
"After 40 minutes, we were ordered to come out. We went outside, and I was immediately restrained and thoroughly searched,” he recalled.
“The army claimed that a wanted person was in my house. I told them there was no one, but they insisted and forced my wife to return to the house and open all the doors. They even sent in a drone to film, but they found nothing.”
Nasser said he was used as a human shield by Israeli forces as they stormed the house.
“They found nothing, except that one door was stuck and wouldn't open, so they shot it open with live ammunition."
As they left the house, an Israeli officer told Nasser, "two hours ago, your house was beautiful; now it's destroyed. We’re sorry."
"What can I say? My house was destroyed, bullets went through everything, my father's car was burned, and the officer just says: Sorry.”
The Israeli army launched a military operation in the Tulkarm refugee camp early Thursday, with bulldozers destroying roads, shops and vehicles in the camp.
Three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike in the camp, the Health Ministry said.
Sporadic armed clashes were reported in several areas of the camp, along with detonation of explosive devices.
In separate statements, Palestinian resistance groups, including Hamas, Fatah and the Islamic Jihad, said their fighters had confronted Israeli army forces during its raid in Tulkarm.
Over the past few years, the Israeli army has conducted regular raids in the occupied West Bank, which escalated after the war on Gaza last October. Palestinians have also been violently attacked by illegal Israeli settlers.
At least 640 Palestinians have since been killed and over 5,400 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.
In a landmark opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul