Israel on Thursday killed three Palestinians in a drone strike on the town and refugee camp of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank.
According to fighters in the city, the incident took place during one of the almost daily Israeli raids in the West Bank, in which Israeli troops clash with fighters from Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Israeli raids on Tulkarem:
What happened during the raid?
According to news reports, Israeli soldiers were deployed on rooftops and bulldozers were sent into the camp to destroy large residential areas.
Israel reportedly set fire to people’s homes and prevented local relief workers from extinguishing the fires.
Experts say Israel’s tactics during the raids appear to be part of a broader doctrine to collectively punish the population, as some pockets of armed resistance continue to fight Israel’s ever-increasing occupation.
Why is Israel attacking people in refugee camps?
Israel claims it is conducting an “anti-terrorism” operation.
Are there ‘terrorists’ in the camps?
Activists and experts have previously told Al Jazeera that Israel is promoting the threat of “terrorism” to justify the mass displacement of Palestinians and the expansion of illegal settlements.
The West Bank refugee camps shelter Palestinian fighters affiliated with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) or Fatah.
The fighters say they are defending their camps and towns from Israeli attacks aimed at uprooting civilians from their homes and lands.
But Israel says the raids are only to arrest individuals?
Shadi Abdullah, an activist who has documented Israeli abuses in Tulkaram, says Israeli soldiers use bulldozers to destroy homes and infrastructure and that they also deliberately cut off basic provisions to make people’s lives difficult.
Furthermore, he said that Israeli security forces collaborate with Israelis living in illegal settlements and support them in attacking civilians.
He said as Tulkaram is located between several settlements, “people live in constant fear of attacks by settlers and occupation forces.”
“In the end… whether they are resistance fighters or not, they [Israel] “They want to take our land,” Abdullah said.
Why Tulkaram?
Activists and rights groups say Tulkaram has fertile agricultural land due to the abundance of natural water.
But illegal Israeli settlements established in recent years have forced Palestinian farmers and settlers to leave their homes. Relying on expensive tanker water and rainwater collection systems Because the settlers have stolen the land along with the water resources.
Abdullah said the city of Tulkarm and the refugee camp have a high population density as a result of Palestinians being forcibly displaced from surrounding areas.
The destruction of residential areas in raids further increases population density, as people flee devastated areas to places they expect to be safer.
How does Israel conduct these raids?
Israel has in the past sent troops disguised as Palestinians to reconnoiter the camp before approving raids.
Israeli soldiers would then enter the camps with bulldozers and destroy schools, hospitals and homes. These heavily armoured machines are often accompanied by drones and helicopters for air cover.
Drones in particular play a key role in Israeli raids, as they did in Thursday’s attack that killed three Palestinians.
Earlier this month, the Israeli military used drones to kill 11 Palestinians in Jenin, another West Bank city where armed resistance has emerged over the past three years.
Israel also used drones to target the Nur Shams camp on 3 July, killing four Palestinians.
Abdullah says the use of such weapons is part of a broader effort to intimidate the younger generation of Palestinians from taking part in armed resistance.
He said Israel was also attempting to pressure camp residents to blame resistance fighters for the destruction.
But Abdullah says this strategy does not work.
“There is no difference between civilians and armed fighters,” he said. “We all participate in the resistance, but we participate in different ways. Civilians don’t want fighters to stop fighting. On the contrary, they just want the Israeli occupation to end.”
