Palestinians dream of returning home after Israel raids West Bank camps

Palestinians have been displaced from their homes in Tulkarem refugee camp and dream of returning home.

A photo of Tulkarem camp taken from Fuad Abu Salam’s apartment which overlooks the camp; from there, he looks out at his destroyed home every day [Raghad Salameh/Al Jazeera]

Ramallah, occupied West Bank – Every day, Fuad Abu Salam sips his morning coffee outside his rented home in the Thinnabeh suburb, gazing at every detail of the sprawling Tulkarem refugee camp in front of him. This West Bank camp he can see in the distance once housed a two-storey building comprising four apartments, each measuring 300 square metres (3,229sq feet), in which he and his extended family lived.

After he was displaced from the camp, he, his wife, his four children, and his mother were confined to a small, rented apartment no bigger than 100sq metres (1,076sq feet) in Thinnabeh. His home in Tulkarem was partially destroyed when he left the camp.

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Everything changed for Fuad and his family on January 21, 2025, when Israel launched a military assault in the occupied West Bank dubbed “Iron Wall”, initially targeting the Jenin refugee camp. A week later, the operation expanded to include the Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps in the city of Tulkarem.

Israeli forces forcibly displaced the entire populations of the three camps during January and February 2025 and continue to prevent their return, the United Nations has said.

Data from UNRWA cited in a report titled, Destruction of Palestinian Refugee Camps in the Northern West Bank, stated that 33,362 Palestinians remain forcibly displaced from the three camps. By October 2025, 52 percent of structures in the Jenin camp, 48 percent in the Nur Shams camp, and 36 percent in the Tulkarem camp had been destroyed or damaged.

The Israeli operation has affected hundreds of homes, roads, and infrastructure, including water and electricity networks, while humanitarian aid to the camps has been cut off.

Israeli forces killed 102 Palestinians, including 21 children, during the period covered, according to the report. This represents 46 percent of the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank during this period.

On Sunday, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the government to provide a timeline for the return of displaced people to the three camps, setting November 23 as a deadline for a response.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich rejected the ruling, warning that the return of residents could allow for the reconstruction of what he termed “terror infrastructure”. He called on the government not to implement the decision.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz opposed the court’s intervention, asserting that the army’s continued presence in the camps was a security decision and stating his intention to maintain a military presence there.

Fuad, 42, a greenhouse installer, found himself forced to flee with all the camp’s other residents and more than 40 family members. But he and his neighbours carried with them the hope of returning home.

They moved between the homes of relatives, enduring harsh living conditions, until he finally settled in the Thinnabeh suburb of Tulkarem.

Fuad Abu Salam sits with his children in his rented apartment overlooking the Tulkarem camp, gazing at their destroyed home [Raghad Salameh/Al Jazeera]

The neighbourhood, which overlooks the camp, has “restored his spirit” because he can see his home even if it’s from afar. Although he is unable to reach the building, he can gaze at it and imagine a time when he can return.

“If a decision were issued right now allowing us to return, I would go back immediately without a moment’s hesitation,” he said.

But his home is no longer what it used to be. It was partially demolished and set on fire by Israeli soldiers, rendering more than 80 percent of the apartment block uninhabitable. Fuad plans to use the rubble to rebuild his home.

“I will never waver in my resolve to return, even if it means pitching a tent over the ruins and living there,” he declared.

Mohamad Ararawi, 18, from the Jenin refugee camp, also saw his home razed to the ground with a wide road replacing it.

He told Al Jazeera that his family of 40, who had lived in a five-story building in the al-Damaj neighbourhood, all fled the camp when the Israeli military operation began, seeking shelter in homes belonging to other relatives.

“My mother, father, five sisters, and I took refuge in my brother’s unfinished apartment. We endured harsh conditions, suffering through biting cold and scorching heat, before gradually completing the construction until it became somewhat habitable,” he added.

Returning is all that matters to them, and they refuse to live anywhere but the camp, even if it lacks basic amenities.

A near-impossible return

Returning the displaced back to their homes is not merely an issue of clearing roads for residents. Returning would mean living in a camp in which infrastructure has been damaged and hundreds of homes destroyed, all amid a lack of necessities.

Nihad Shawish, a member of the Nur Shams Camp Popular Services Committee, told Al Jazeera that the scale of destruction makes the residents’ return fraught with immense difficulties, despite their will to go back to their homes.

Approximately 400 homes, most of them three to four stories high, were destroyed, he said, while about 100 homes were burned down during the Israeli army’s presence in the camp.

Even the ones that survived are not necessarily habitable; they sustained severe damage affecting doors, windows, and interior facilities. The collapse of some buildings has also damaged neighbouring homes.

Approximately 10,900 camp residents remain displaced, including families staying in private homes and others at a school in the Thinnabeh suburb.

Faisal Salameh, an official with the Tulkarem Camp Popular Committee, told Al Jazeera that more than 2,000 housing units were completely destroyed, while approximately 90 per cent of the camp’s homes sustained partial damage, rendering them uninhabitable.

“Israel has turned the camp into an environment that drives residents away, given the widespread destruction and the ban on reconstruction in certain areas that have been converted into roads,” he noted.

Despite these conditions, Salameh said that displaced residents are eager to return to the camp as soon as a decision by the Israeli government permits them to.

The camp was home to approximately 15,000 people. The majority of the displaced currently live in rented homes or with relatives, while others have sought shelter in schools, mosques, or makeshift tin shacks.

While the Israeli Supreme Court’s ruling opens the door to discussing the return of displaced persons to camps in the northern West Bank, its rejection by Israeli government ministers raises questions about whether it will be implemented. Until then, the lives of the displaced families remain in limbo.

Mohamad Halaseh, an expert on Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli right-wing isn’t just trying to alter the structure of the judicial system, but also seeking to undermine its legitimacy and exert pressure on judges.

He explained that the effect of political stances is evident in the disregard for Supreme Court rulings. He cites the issue of Palestinian prisoner visitations, a case in which the state failed to comply with the court’s decisions, as one example of this.

“The continued disregard for court rulings undermines the judiciary’s ability to compel the government to act when judicial decisions conflict with the stance of the political leadership,” he said.

Several precedents make the implementation of court rulings on the camps unlikely, he said. This is particularly distressing for residents who also face strong Israeli political opposition to the return of Palestinians to the three camps.

“Declared political stances set a limit on the extent to which executive institutions comply with judicial rulings,” he said.

图勒凯尔姆难民营的巴勒斯坦人流离失所，他们梦想着重返家园。

这张照片是从福阿德·阿布·萨拉姆的公寓拍摄的，公寓可以俯瞰图勒凯尔姆难民营；他每天都从那里眺望自己被毁的家园。[拉加德·萨拉梅/半岛电视台]

拉马拉，被占领的西岸——每天早晨，福阿德·阿布·萨拉姆都会在他位于辛纳贝郊区租住的房子外啜饮咖啡，目光所及之处，尽收眼底。他远远望见的这个西岸难民营，曾经是一栋两层楼的建筑，内设四套公寓，每套面积300平方米（3229平方英尺），他和他的大家庭就住在那里。

他被迫离开难民营后，和妻子、四个孩子以及母亲一起挤在辛纳贝租住的一间面积不超过100平方米（1076平方英尺）的小公寓里。他离开难民营时，在图勒凯尔姆的家也遭到了部分损毁。

以色列对西岸的破坏行动已升级至该地区的粮食产区，这是其中的一项（共三项）。

哈马斯抨击和平委员会拒绝与联合国近东救济工程处在加沙开展合作（共3条记录，此为第2条）。

列表 3/3 “我一无所有”：流离失所的巴勒斯坦人挣扎求生

2025年1月21日，以色列在被占领的约旦河西岸发动了代号为“铁墙”的军事行动，福阿德和他的家人的命运从此改变。该行动最初的目标是杰宁难民营。一周后，行动范围扩大到图勒凯尔姆市的图勒凯尔姆难民营和努尔沙姆斯难民营。

联合国表示，以色列军队在 2025 年 1 月和 2 月期间强行驱逐了三个难民营的所有居民，并继续阻止他们返回家园。

联合国近东救济工程处（近东救济工程处）在一份题为《约旦河西岸北部巴勒斯坦难民营的破坏》的报告中引用的数据显示，仍有33362名巴勒斯坦人被迫离开这三个难民营。截至2025年10月，杰宁难民营52%的建筑物、努尔沙姆斯难民营48%的建筑物和图勒凯尔姆难民营36%的建筑物已被摧毁或损坏。

以色列的军事行动影响了数百户家庭、道路和基础设施，包括供水和电力网络，同时对难民营的人道主义援助也被切断。

报告显示，在报告所述期间，以色列军队杀害了102名巴勒斯坦人，其中包括21名儿童。这占同期以色列军队在西岸杀害的巴勒斯坦人总数的46%。

周日，以色列最高法院命令政府提供流离失所者返回三个难民营的时间表，并将 11 月 23 日定为答复的最后期限。

以色列极右翼财政部长贝扎莱尔·斯莫特里奇拒绝接受这一裁决，并警告说，居民返回家园可能会导致他所谓的“恐怖主义基础设施”重建。他呼吁政府不要执行该裁决。

与此同时，以色列国防部长以色列·卡茨反对法院的干预，他断言军队继续驻扎在难民营是一项安全决定，并表示他打算在那里保持军事存在。

42岁的温室安装工福阿德被迫与营地里的其他居民以及40多名家人一起逃离。但他和邻居们仍然怀揣着回家的希望。

他们辗转于亲戚家之间，忍受着恶劣的生活条件，直到他最终在图勒凯尔姆的辛纳贝郊区定居下来。

福阿德·阿布·萨拉姆和他的孩子们坐在他租住的公寓里，俯瞰着图勒凯尔姆难民营，凝视着他们被毁的家园。[拉加德·萨拉梅/半岛电视台]

这个俯瞰难民营的街区“让他重拾了精神”，因为即使远隔千里，他也能看到自己的家。虽然他无法回到家，但他可以凝视着它，想象着自己重返家园的那一天。

“如果现在就做出允许我们返回的决定，我会毫不犹豫地立即回去，”他说。

但他的家已不复往日模样。以色列士兵将其部分拆毁并纵火焚烧，导致超过80%的公寓楼无法居住。福阿德计划利用废墟重建家园。

“我返回的决心永远不会动摇，即使这意味着要在废墟上搭起帐篷住在那里，”他宣称。

来自杰宁难民营的 18 岁青年穆罕默德·阿拉拉维 (Mohamad Ararawi) 也眼睁睁地看着自己的家园被夷为平地，取而代之的是一条宽阔的道路。

他告诉半岛电视台，他一家 40 人住在达马吉社区的一栋五层楼房里，以色列军事行动开始时，他们全家都逃离了难民营，到其他亲戚的家中寻求庇护。

“我和我的父母、五个姐妹一起躲进了我哥哥尚未完工的公寓里。我们忍受着恶劣的条件，忍受着刺骨的寒冷和酷暑，然后慢慢地把房子装修好，直到勉强能住人为止，”他补充道。

对他们来说，返回家园才是最重要的，他们拒绝住在难民营以外的任何地方，即使难民营缺乏基本的生活设施。

几乎不可能的回报

让流离失所者返回家园不仅仅是清理道路的问题。返回家园意味着要生活在基础设施遭到破坏、数百栋房屋被毁、生活必需品匮乏的难民营中。

努尔沙姆斯难民营民众服务委员会成员尼哈德·沙维什告诉半岛电视台，尽管居民们渴望返回家园，但由于破坏规模巨大，他们的返回之路充满了巨大的困难。

他说，大约有 400 栋房屋被摧毁，其中大部分是三到四层楼高；而在以色列军队驻扎在难民营期间，约有 100 栋房屋被烧毁。

即使是那些幸存下来的房屋也未必适宜居住；它们遭受了严重的损坏，门窗和内部设施都受到了影响。一些建筑物的倒塌也波及到了邻近的房屋。

约有 10,900 名营地居民仍然流离失所，其中包括住在私人住宅中的家庭和住在 Thinnabeh 郊区一所学校的其他人。

图勒凯尔姆难民营民众委员会官员费萨尔·萨拉梅告诉半岛电视台，超过2000套住房被彻底摧毁，而难民营中约90%的房屋遭到部分损坏，无法居住。

他指出：“鉴于大范围的破坏以及某些地区被改造成道路后禁止重建，以色列已经把难民营变成了一个令居民望而却步的环境。”

尽管面临这些困难，萨拉梅表示，一旦以色列政府做出允许的决定，流离失所的居民就渴望尽快返回营地。

该营地曾居住着约15000人。目前，大多数流离失所者居住在租来的房子里或亲戚家，而其他人则在学校、清真寺或临时搭建的铁皮棚屋里寻求庇护。

尽管以色列最高法院的裁决为讨论流离失所者返回约旦河西岸北部营地的问题打开了大门，但以色列政府部长们的拒绝却引发了人们对该裁决能否得到执行的质疑。在此之前，流离失所家庭的生活仍将悬而未决。

以色列事务专家穆罕默德·哈拉塞赫告诉半岛电视台，以色列右翼不仅试图改变司法系统的结构，而且还试图破坏其合法性，并对法官施加压力。

他解释说，政治立场的影响在对最高法院裁决的漠视中显而易见。他以巴勒斯坦囚犯探视问题为例，指出巴勒斯坦政府未能遵守法院的裁决。

他说：“持续无视法院裁决会削弱司法机关在司法判决与政治领导层的立场相冲突时，迫使政府采取行动的能力。”

他表示，已有若干先例表明，法院关于难民营的裁决不太可能得到执行。这尤其令难民营居民感到沮丧，因为他们还要面对以色列政府对巴勒斯坦人返回这三个难民营的强烈政治反对。

他说：“已公开的政治立场限制了行政机构遵守司法裁决的程度。”