ISTANBUL
Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank have demolished more than 1,000 Palestinian homes and killed at least 55 people since January, according to two Palestinian media committees.
The destruction has focused on three northern West Bank refugee camps – Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams – where Israeli forces have carried out operations since Jan. 21.
In Jenin camp alone, more than 600 homes have been destroyed and many others left uninhabitable, the camp’s media committee said Saturday.
It described the assault as part of a 159-day military campaign marked by home burnings, road demolitions and the conversion of residential buildings into army outposts.
Since the start of the operations, 42 Palestinians have been killed in Jenin, with dozens more wounded or arrested and around 22,000 people forcibly displaced, according to the committee.
A separate statement from the Tulkarem media committee said Israeli bulldozers demolished 400 homes in Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps and partially damaged more than 2,500 others.
The committee said the army plans to demolish 106 more buildings, affecting more than 250 housing units.
At least 13 Palestinians, including a child and two women – one of them pregnant – have been killed in the two camps since the operations began, it added.
Over 25,000 residents have fled the camps amid what local groups describe as dire humanitarian conditions. Access to the camps remains blocked by Israeli forces, effectively turning them into "nearly lifeless zones," the committee said.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, at least 986 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
In July, the International Court of Justice ruled Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.