The attack is the first such missile strike on Tulkarm since the Second Intifada in the early 2000’s

A child walks amid the rubble in an alley following an Israeli army raid in Tulkarem in the north of the occupied-West Bank, on September 12, 2024. (Zain JAAFAR / AFP)

By MEE staff, 3 October 2024

At least 18 people have been killed by an Israeli strike on the Tulkarm refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said on its Telegram account on Thursday evening local time. 

The Israeli army confirmed the strike on the town in the northern occupied West Bank, describing it as a joint operation carried out by the Shin Bet internal security service and the air force, according to a brief statement by the military. 

Video from the site posted on social media showed what appeared to be a corpse suspended in the air and rubble spewed across the street with cries in the background.

The bombing targeted al-Hamam neighbourhood in Tulkarm camp, and at least one missile hit a popular cafe in the middle of the camp in a three-story building, Palestinian officials said. Ambulances and first responders were rushing to the scene.

“We condemn the Tulkarm camp massacre and hold the occupation government fully responsible for its repercussions,” the Palestinian Authority’s presidency office said in a statement on Thursday.

Faisal Salama, a camp official, told AFP the attack had been carried out by an F-16 fighter.

The strike is a crescendo of Israel’s escalating attacks in the occupied West Bank. This is the first time the Tulkarm refugee camp has been bombed with a missile since the Second Intifada, the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s.

Israel has substantially increased its attacks on the occupied West Bank since 7 October 2023, after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. At least 630 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank since then.

In August, Israel launched a massive offensive in the northern West Bank targeting the cities of Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas with military helicopters and large convoys of armoured vehicles.

Major Israeli offensives in the occupied West Bank are sometimes occurring “at a scale not witnessed in the last two decades”, United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said in September.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.

The strike comes as Israel presses ahead with its invasion of Lebanon, bombing parts of Beirut on Thursday night and fighting with Hezbollah, and the war on Gaza by Israel rages on, with over 41,000 dead, most of them women and children.

---

Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.