Israel’s Defense Minister orders IDF takeover of refugee camp, expulsion of Palestinians

Matan Golan and Jack Khoury report in Haaretz on 28 July 2026:

Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that he has instructed the IDF to prepare to take control of a refugee camp and expel its Palestinian residents amid Israel’s unfolding West Bank offensive.

According to a statement from Katz’s office, issued after Friday’s announcement that Israel was reinforcing its troop presence in the West Bank, the move is intended “to expand offensive operations against Palestinian terrorism, which is attempting to reestablish itself.”

The statements followed clashes in the village of Tell on Friday that left two Israelis and four Palestinians dead. The IDF classified the clashes as a terrorist attack.

It is still unknown which refugee camp Katz meant. There are three refugee camps near Nablus: Balata, Askar and Ein al-Sultan (al-Ein). Over the past two years, the IDF has taken control of the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur al-Shams refugee camps, displacing most of their residents.

Earlier on Tuesday, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel’s governing body in the West Bank demolished several “symbolic” Palestinian structures in the northern West Bank the previous day, as a response to the clashes.  “We are exacting a price on the ground and preventing the establishment of a Palestinian terrorist state in the heart of the country,” he said in a statement.  However, some of the structures demolished by the Civil Administration are not located within the village boundary but are in areas unrelated to the incident.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned the IDF directive could “have a devastating humanitarian impact on thousands of people.”  “Since last year, Israeli operations in the camps of Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams have displaced more than 30,000 people, including children, and destroyed homes, livelihoods and essential services. These operations have also deepened humanitarian needs,” OCHA said.

“Israeli forces have reportedly imposed a closure on Nablus city and its surroundings, and on Tell village,” where it says concerns have been raised over the establishment of a settlement outpost.

“Meanwhile, yesterday, Israeli forces and municipal authorities forcibly entered UNRWA’s oldest vocational training facility, the Kalandia Training Centre in East Jerusalem, where UNRWA says they gathered and confined educational staff and students while conducting operations,” OCHA said, marking the second IDF incursion to the compound in less than a month amid broader measures to restrict UNRWA operations.

On Tuesday morning, Palestinian media reported that the Israeli military carried out overnight raids in several West Bank cities and villages, including Qaddum, Nablus, Qalqilya, Tuqu’, Hebron, Yasuf and Bethlehem. Reports have also indicated that Israeli forces had taken over buildings in the villages of Turmus Ayya and Taybeh.

According to the reports, settlers grazed livestock near residents’ homes in the village of Khallet al-Daba in the South Hebron Hills. The reports added that members of a Palestinian family were attacked with pepper spray, after which Israeli forces detained three of them.

Palestinian media also reported that settlers attacked a Bedouin community near Jaba in the northern West Bank overnight. According to the reports, Israeli forces who arrived at the scene remained alongside the settlers for an extended period before eventually removing them and continuing searches in the area, apparently following an earlier confrontation.

Overnight into Tuesday, Palestinian media reported that settlers threw stones at a Palestinian vehicle near the settlement of Eli. One passenger was wounded and taken for medical treatment after the driver lost control of the vehicle as a result of the stone-throwing.

On Monday, Palestinian media reported that settlers set fire to two mosques, one in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, and another in Kafr Sur, southeast of Tulkarm. Graffiti reading, “Jewish blood will not be forsaken,” was spray-painted on the wall of the mosque in Kafr Sur.

The reports also said settlers torched vehicles and agricultural land in the village of Beitillu, northwest of Ramallah. In Beit Furik, east of Nablus, residents reported hate graffiti sprayed overnight and fires set in agricultural fields.

By midday, Israeli police said they had arrested two settlers on suspicion of involvement in the mosque arsons and the graffiti in Kafr Sur.

On Saturday, the IDF raided several Palestinian towns and villages across the West Bank, carrying out searches, interrogations and numerous arrests. Among other operations, troops searched dozens of homes in the village of Tell, including the homes of families of Palestinians killed in recent clashes. Several of their relatives were also arrested.

Most of the military activity was concentrated in the Nablus, Jenin, Qalqilya and Tulkarm districts. The military has imposed a closure on Nablus, as well as a full curfew on the villages of Tel and Burin.

Earlier on Saturday, settlers were recorded attempting to enter a building under construction in Tell alongside IDF soldiers. The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli soldiers wounded a Palestinian resident in the village. In response to an inquiry from Haaretz, the military said the Israeli civilians were removed from the village after troops arrived.

Additional clashes between Palestinians and Israelis also took place in the village of Khillet al-Khums, near Susya in the South Hebron Hills. According to Palestinian reports, settlers surrounded a building in the village where a family with children was sheltering and opened live fire. An Israeli civilian in his 20s was moderately wounded after being struck by stones.  The IDF spokesperson refuted an earlier military report that the clash, taking place in Susya Junction, was a shooting attack, saying that it involved stone-throwing from both sides.

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