Hunted by drones in the West Bank: "Fight to the end"

 

Israel
Hunted by the IDF drones in the West Bank: "Will fight to the end"

Emil Forsberg,

Niclas Hammarström (photo)

Updated 19.57 | Published 19.38

INTERPRETER ARM. The Israeli raids in the camp spread terror.

But for the Al Qassem Brigades, the fighting in the West Bank will continue until the end.

- What happens in Gaza will happen here, says leader Ehab Muhammed.
Follow topics
Israel

Between the house walls in the camp in Tulkarm on the West Bank, the skynkin is strung up.

Under them, Al Qassam Brigades leader Ehab Muhammed can move safely without the Israeli drones spotting him and opening fire.

- Look, there it is, the drone, he says and points to a greenish flashing light in the sky.

Tulkarm, West Bank. Photo: Niclas Hammarström

On the house walls hang pictures of young men who died as martyrs. Photo: Niclas Hammarström

The militant group is part of the military wing of   Hamas, which carried out attacks inside Israel on October 7 that killed over 1,100 people and kidnapped hundreds. The resistance to the Israeli occupation has been going on since 1992.

After that, the Israeli military conducts constant raids with soldiers and drones against the camp. Most recently a couple of days ago.

- It was a big invasion. They killed nine of our leaders and destroyed everything. Our barriers and roadblocks and tore down the skylights. Now we are rebuilding everything, he says.

According to Ehab Muhammed, the situation has escalated recently.

- When  

coming in, anyone who moves is a target. If they see a child next to an armed man, they shoot. They want to remove all resistance that this movement symbolizes.
symboliserar.

One of many houses destroyed by Israeli bombs and bulldozers. Photo: Niclas Hammarström

West Bank Now all drinking water has to be fetched on trucks as the Israeli military has dug up the water supply to the refugee camp. Photo: Niclas Hammarström

When they come, do you shoot back?

- It is clear, they are our enemies. We are fighting for our country, we don't want anything from them.

The roads are completely destroyed after a bulldozer broke loose and tore them up. In the dark, three men are standing and trying to fix a water pipe that has been destroyed.

All attacks on infrastructure are an attempt to turn the civilian population in the camp against them, says Ehab Muhammed.

- They have destroyed businesses, there is no water in the camp. They put pressure on people and try to make them hate us as warriors. But they protect us. And for every leader they kill, there are 100 new warriors.

24-year-old Ehab Muhammed's family comes from Beersheba in Gaza, but was driven away when the Israeli settlers arrived.

Lamia Zayed, 65, lost her son in an Israeli drone strike. Her two other sons Hamza, 24, and Mujahed, 32, are not involved in the Al Qassam Brigades. Photo: Niclas Hammarström

Now he lives in Tulkarm in the West Bank where he leads the Al Qassam Brigades.

- We are the third generation of resistance. Our fathers and uncles were martyrs, I have friends who are martyrs. We are born to fight, he says and continues:

- Look at what is happening in Gaza, the massacre that is going on. Is there a democratic state that could have done this? We cannot be silent, because what happens in Gaza will happen here.         

 

The leader of the Al-Qassam Brigade in Tulkarm, Ehab Muhammad says "we will not be silenced, we want our freedom." Photo: Niclas Hammarström

Do you think there will be a major war in the region?

- What kind of big war? We are in a great war. All the blood that flowed, all the body parts that were picked up. 40 people in my family are martyrs, what is bigger than that?

- I have nothing against Jews, I just want us to get our country back. Why don't we live like they do on the outside? Why don't we have freedom?

Ehab Muhammed and his closest man Abu Saleh show around the camp and stop at a bombed-out apartment building.

Here lived the brigade leader Abu Al Saqer, who was also killed by the IDF forces.

- I hadn't seen him for a week and called him and said he was coming here. But he said "no, mom, it's an invasion." I can't be with you now”. Then I heard the screams. "Abu Saqer is dead," said his mother Lamia Zayad, 65.

- He took care of me. He always helped at home with cleaning and cooking, she says.

Sitting next to her are sons Hamza, 24, and Mujahed, 32. Neither of them is in the Al Qassam Brigades. The former has just been released after 30 days in prison.

- I was working in Israel, but my visa had expired. So I went in with my boss and then they found me, he says.

Mujahed Zayaf says the situation in the camp is like a prison.

- They can come in here and kill us, but if we fight back, they say we are anti-Semitic. We are not anti-Semitic. We are not terrorists. They have an ocean, we have nothing.

Do you see an end to this?

- There is an end. Our weapons are our only means of protection. They will go back where they came from and we will fight to the end.

           

           

          The square in the refugee camp.

          1 / 2Photo: Niclas Hammarström