The al-Qassam Brigades – Tulkarm Brigade announced on Thursday that its fighters engaged in fierce confrontations with Zionist occupation soldiers storming the Tulkarm camp in the occupied West Bank.
The Resistance group said it detonated IEDs in Zionist forces and their military vehicles, confirming direct hits.
Similarly, the al-Quds Brigades – Tulkarm Brigade stated that its fighters confronted the invading Zionist forces with intense gunfire and explosive devices.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – Tulkarm Brigade also confirmed that their fighters engaged in fierce combat with Zionist forces around the camp using automatic weapons and explosive devices.
The occupation army admitted that a soldier was injured during confrontations with Resistance fighters in Tulkarm and its camp.
Zionist media reported that an Israeli aircraft targeted a group of Resistance fighters without hitting them, but confirmed that the militants successfully detonated an explosive device on a Zionist military bulldozer.
Zionist media reported that a aircraft targeted a group of Resistance fighters but missed its intended target.
Meanwhile, reports confirmed that the fighters successfully detonated an IED in an Israeli military bulldozer, causing damage to the vehicle.
Local sources reported that a Palestinian youth was wounded by Zionist gunfire in Tulkarm.
Seven Zionist military vehicles stormed the city from the western side, advancing through multiple neighborhoods, particularly concentrating on the western and eastern sectors.
The convoy eventually took up strategic positions around key locations, including the Al-Isra Specialized Hospital, the Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital, and the area adjacent to the District Coordination Office near the Tulkarm camp.
Heavy gunfire and reconnaissance aircraft were heard over the city and its camps.
Zionist forces deployed additional reinforcements accompanied by military bulldozers towards the city and its camp, positioning snipers on tall buildings.
The bulldozers began demolishing infrastructure at the western entrance of the Tulkarm camp while other military vehicles were stationed along Nablus Street near the camp’s northern entrance and in the adjacent Dhannaba area.
In the context of the Zionist attack on the occupied West Bank, occupation forces launched a series of raids targeting the industrial area in al-Bireh, the town of Azzun east of Qalqilya, the village of Bazariya northwest of Nablus, the vicinity of al-Ain camp in Nablus, the town of Asira al-Shamaliya north of Nablus, and al-Arroub camp north of al-Khalil.
Zionists fear comprehensive intifada in West Bank
Zionist media reported on Thursday that the Zionist occupation forces are “greatly concerned about the potential outbreak of conflict in another sector,” noting that this concern comes as they remain “on high alert on the northern front [with Lebanon].”
According to newspaper Maariv, the occupation expects an escalation in the West Bank, particularly in Nablus and the Balata refugee camp, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, which may include bombings and martyrdom operations within the occupation entity.
These expectations come after the martyrdom of 21-year-old Hamas leader Jamal Saudi on Wednesday, after he and another freedom fighter were targeted by a Zionist drone in the Balata refugee camp.
Maariv pointed out that Saudi’s martyrdom could “ignite violence in Nablus and Balata camp, so the army has increased its operational readiness in the central region.”
The newspaper also noted that the assassination of Khalil al-Muqdah, a commander in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, in southern Lebanon, “has an impact on igniting the West Bank because he has a special military force.”
It is noteworthy that martyr al-Muqdah played a major role in supporting Resistance cells against the occupation for many years in the West Bank.
Aman warns of potential uprising-level escalation
Two days ago, the Zionist military intelligence (Aman) conveyed estimates to security agencies, predicting an escalation in the West Bank that could reach the scale of an Intifada, including bombings and martyrdom operations within the occupation entity. The recent explosion in Tel Aviv might be an indicator of this, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
The newspaper claimed that since the regime began its war on Gaza, the use of explosive devices has increased, and motivations among young people in refugee camps in the West Bank have intensified due to the war. “This is a factor that cannot be ignored in considerations of continuing the war and deploying ‘Israeli’ military forces between the two regions.”
According to the newspaper, the scenario that worries the security apparatus is that Palestinian Resistance brigades in the northern West Bank will launch operations similar to Operation Al-Aqsa flood on settlements and random outposts, “with the participation of the Palestinian security services,” which the occupation army describes as “the scenario of turning nozzles,” because “so far the Palestinian Authority security services have been trying to minimize the phenomenon of armed brigades.”
Zionist security agencies previously revealed that dangerous explosive devices have reached Resistance groups in the West Bank through gaps in the border fence with Jordan. They also reported that the occupation forces had seized only a small fraction of the weapons reaching the West Bank.
Hamas urges confrontations against settlers at al-Aqsa mosque
Hamas urged the Palestinian masses across occupied al-Quds, the 1948 occupied Palestinian territories, and the occupied West Bank to head Friday, August 23, to the al-Aqsa Mosque and persist with their steadfast presence there.
In a statement, the Palestinian group called upon the Palestinian people to confront and prevent the attempts of extremist Zionist settlers to storm and desecrate the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and to foil their malicious plans aimed at dividing it.
Hamas also called on the Palestinian people, the Ummah, and all the free people around the world to mobilize and gather in every venue on Friday, demanding it be a day of mass mobilization and action to support and defend Gaza, al-Quds, and the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque.
Last week, hundreds of settlers, including Zionist Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, raided the courtyards of the al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of occupation police forces.
The Islamic Endowments Department in al-Quds reported that 2,200 settlers stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque since morning, marking what is known as the anniversary of the “destruction of the temple.”
Reports state that in occupied Palestine settlers raised the entity’s flag inside the al-Aqsa Mosque at Bab al-Silsila while carrying out provocative tours inside the holy mosque.
During the storming, occupation forces obstructed Palestinian worshippers from entering the courtyards of the Mosque, deploying large forces at its gates to facilitate the settlers’ incursions.
The occupation police transformed the Old City of occupied al-Quds into a heavily fortified military zone, deploying hundreds of officers at the gates of the al-Aqsa Mosque and enforcing stringent military measures at both the mosque’s entrances and throughout the Old City.
During a speech at the so-called “Jerusalem Day Flag March,” which commemorates the military’s occupation of the Palestinian city in 1967, Ben-Gvir declared the Zionists “sovereignty” over the al-Aqsa Mosque.
After the Zionist occupation of the eastern part of al-Quds, it made an arrangement that permits Jews to visit al-Aqsa Mosque but not perform rituals there. However, in recent years, the increasing number of Israeli settlers, some performing provocative rituals accompanied by Israeli occupation forces, has heightened longstanding Palestinian concerns that Zionists intends to occupy the sacred Islamic site.
“Temple Mount is ours, Damascus Gate is ours, let the whole world know that,” Ben-Gvir said, adding, “Today, according to my policy, Jews entered the Old City freely. And on the Temple Mount Jews prayed freely. We say in the simplest way, it’s ours.”
It is worth noting that Ben-Gvir has included changes to the status quo at al-Aqsa Mosque in his ministry’s formal action plans. His plan aims to alter the status quo at the Mosque by taking control of the site and allowing access to settlers.
On 55th anniversary of Al-Aqsa fire, Hamas warns of Zionist plans
On Wednesday, Hamas said in a statement marking the 55th anniversary of the incident of burning the al-Aqsa Mosque that this anniversary comes amid ongoing international silence, complacency, and complicity, as well as American and Western support for the crimes, massacres, and violations committed by the occupation.
The al-Aqsa Mosque fire, which occurred on August 21, 1969, was carried out by an extremist Australian national named Michael Dennis Rohan. The flames consumed the entire contents of the eastern wing of the Qibli Mosque, located on the southern side of the al-Aqsa compound, including its historic pulpit known as the Salah al-Din pulpit.
The group underlined that the burning of al-Aqsa and all crimes of the occupation have only strengthened the Palestinian people’s steadfastness and adherence to the land and sacred sites.
It affirmed that all attempts by the occupation to Judaize al-Aqsa, alter its features, erase its identity, or divide it temporally and spatially will fail.
“The occupation has no sovereignty or authority over a single inch of the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque,” Hamas made it clear, asserting that the Mosque is and will remain an Islamic endowment.
The Palestinian movement reiterated the necessity of supporting and protecting al-Aqsa, saying, “Our nation’s leaders and governments, who rallied to support al-Aqsa after the fire in 1969, are today called upon to fulfill their historical responsibility in defending it.”
In the same vein, Hamas emphasized the need for the entire nation—leaders, officials, people, governments, and organizations—to assume their historical roles and responsibilities in supporting the steadfastness and resistance of the Palestinian people.
PFLP issues statement on West Bank repression
The Popular Front comments on, “the Zionist war of extermination” in the West Bank. We publish their entire statement below.
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The Popular Front stressed that the daily massacres and crimes committed by the occupation in the occupied West Bank are part of the comprehensive war of extermination aimed at liquidating the existence of our people and their cause, referring to the occupier’s brutal crimes committed in Tulkarm camp, and its extensive aggression by air in many areas of the occupied West Bank.
The occupation’s attack on Tulkarm camp is part of the escalation and expansion of the brutal war of extermination against our people, with the aim of ending the existence of our people on their land through killing and displacement, and liquidating their cause, in light of international and Arab silence and collusion.
We stress that the occupation is carrying out a comprehensive genocide against our people and has expanded its aggression in the occupied West Bank, including air strikes, massacres against innocent civilians, systematic destruction of infrastructure, and attacks on hospitals and schools.
In the face of the war of total extermination, we have no choice but to resist and defend our existence and unity in the trench of confrontation with this enemy, and all nationalists must rise to the level of historical responsibility in a way that guarantees the unity of our people and their ability to fight the battle of destiny.
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Central Media Department
August 22, 2024