Video: IDF conducting anti-terror raid in Nur Shams/ Credit: Hanan Greenwood
We stopped the bulletproof jeep down a narrow alley, shrouded in smoke and fire, in the Nur Shams refugee camp, and got out next to a house fully sprayed with bullets, from a short shooting encounter. Several soldiers stood and looked at me, bewildered, a citizen in the heart of the war.
"You are the first Israeli journalist to come to the Nur Shams refugee camp since Operation Defensive Shield," smiled one of the officers. We entered one of the houses. A child's bicycle, a small toddler's swing, and several Osher Ad and Rami Levy reusable bags greeted us. We heard a loud explosion in the distance as we went further inside. Then we went out to what used to be part of the house, and there we saw enough charges to wipe out a company of soldiers.
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A short while after the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, hundreds of soldiers went into the refugee camp near the city of Tulkarm, a stone's throw from Route 6 and Netanya. Five battalions of combat soldiers, a tremendous amount of firepower; this was the tenth military operation in about two weeks only. Since then they have been in there, raiding house to house, taking apart combat infrastructures that were built there over many years. As of yesterday evening, more than 200 suspects were detained for questioning. Terrorists who threw explosives were attacked from the air, dozens of explosives, some of which were destroyed, were discovered, including a large number of computers and military equipment, binoculars, army uniforms and tactical ties.
Video: IDF conducting anti-terror raid in Nur Shams / Credit: Hanan Greenwood
In recent years the refugee camps have become havens of terror. Due to the high density and the fact that some are located in the heart of Area A, the IDF has avoided entering these areas, which involve a huge risk to the troops, and they enter only in protected vehicles. Their attempt to carry out serious terrorist attacks in Israel's home command is only a matter of time. Most refugee camps are located at a very short distance from the center of the country, in the area of the Menashe regional brigade, the infamous refugee camp of Jenin, Nur Shams, which some would say is even more problematic and sophisticated than the Tulkarm refugee camp, where IDF forces have not yet operated intensively.
To turn the wheel back
Now, at the same time as the war in Gaza, the Judea and Samaria Division set out to annihilate the threat facing the most populated area in Israel. The new division commander, Brigadier General Yaki Dolf, and the Menashe Brigade commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ayoub Kayouf, are leading highly offensive military activities, aimed at destroying the terrorists' capabilities. Dozens of huge-scale military operations were carried out in Jenin's Nur Shams refugee camp, with the stated goal being to turn the wheel back – in other words, to enable the forces to operate with full freedom of action, just like everywhere else in Judea and Samaria.
"Our vision is that the refugee camps will enable our freedom of action, just like any other neighborhood of Palestinian cities. This is already happening in the Jenin refugee camp. The deputy battalion commander oversaw an operation this week involving seven maneuvers, such as a standard arrest in Judea and Samaria," said a senior official in the Judea and Samaria Division. According to estimates, this goal can be achieved within a few weeks only, if the fighting continues at the current intensity.
Video: IDF conducting anti-terror raid in Nur Shams / Credit: Hanan Greenwood
We travelled in a protected jeep, on what was a road until less than 24 hours ago. Beneath it, powerful ground charges were discovered, capable of causing severe damage to our forces. There is a large sign at the top of the hill – the UNRWA compound – only meters from a road where countless numbers of murderous attacks have taken place. The Nur Shams refugee camp is extremely crowded, with 1,300 buildings and 10,000 residents. This is a dense and dangerous pressure cooker, that is now being neutralized by IDF soldiers.
"The terrorists made extensive use of civilian homes as laboratories for the production of ammunition, of hospitals as places of refuge, and of mosques as locations for firing on IDF soldiers," says the senior official. "There is a mosque here from which they shoot on a daily basis, and its entire surroundings are completely boobytrapped. Today we returned to the building where terrorists set up a war room, with a thousand cameras and an explosive laboratory, and found that they had re-established the laboratory. This is a nitpicking job, but we are seeing a change on the ground."
Lieutenant Colonel (res.) Rotem, commander of the 420th Battalion, stands near the dozens of charges that were found. "The battalion came here last night and started searching. We found an explosives laboratory, with charges of various sizes. There was a pressure cooker, and even large boilers, filled with explosives," he describes. Firing is heard very close by, and a loud explosion shakes the area. Fighting is in full swing.
"Protect the road"
We meet Lieutenant Colonel (res.) Tzuri, commander of Battalion 9306, in quite a magnificent building. For almost three months, his soldiers have been carrying out intensive activities, positions, patrols, pillboxes – and many arrests in places where no Israeli has set foot in decades. "If you had told me a few months ago that reserve battalions would be walking around the heart of the toughest refugee camps in Judea and Samaria, I wouldn't have believed you," he says.
The house where Tzuri and his combat soldiers were stationed has everything a modern home needs; a modern washing machine, air conditioner, whatever else you want. They also found a military vest and a tactical uniform inside the building. The men who lived in the house have not been found to date, i.e. terrorists who fled from the attacking combat soldiers. "We are only a stone's throw from the center of the country, and our job is to restore the sense of security that has been lost. We are the citizens who mobilized on October 7th, the People's Army. I used to drive on Route 6 once a week, as part of my work, and now my goal is to protect this road. To defeat terrorism."
