Israel clears another refugee camp as squeeze on West Bank tightens

By Ali Sawafta and James Mackenzie

RAMALLAH (Reuters) - Israeli troops demolished houses and cleared a wide roadway through the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, in a weeks-long operation against militant groups that has forced tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homes.

The operation, during a fragile ceasefire in Gaza that has halted fighting there for the past six weeks, has emptied some of the biggest refugee camps in the northern West Bank in what some Palestinians see as a trial run for wider clearances later.

Nur Shams, outside the city of Tulkarm, is the latest camp to be virtually emptied of its inhabitants following a camp in the volatile city of Jenin to the east and a separate camp within Tulkarm itself.

Residents say bulldozers have been clearing a broad roadway through the area where houses once stood to create easy access for military vehicles, continuing one of the Israeli military's biggest operations in the West Bank for years.

Of the usual population of some 13,000, almost none was left inside the main camp, said Nihad al-Shawish, head of the Nur Shams camp services committee.

"There were about 3,000 people left in the camp and as of today, they have all left," he said. "There are still some people just outside on the outskirts but there is no one left in the camp."

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has previously said its operation aims to root out fighters from Iranian-backed militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, that have established strongholds in the camps of the northern West Bank.

At least 12 people have been killed in Tulkarm during the operation, including both armed militants and civilians, according to Palestinian health officials.

The Israeli military said it had made hundreds of arrests in the northern West Bank over recent weeks, confiscating 120 weapons and destroying hundreds of explosive devices.

GAZA-STYLE DEMOLITION

The military has denied issuing formal evacuation orders to residents of the camp, a crowded township housing descendants of Palestinians who fled their homes or were forced out in the 1948 war at the birth of the state of Israel.

But as in Jenin, residents have fled with whatever possessions they could carry in shopping bags or rucksacks as the Israeli bulldozers have demolished buildings and torn up roads, leaving the camp resembling the ruins of Gaza.

"People are leaving with nothing but the clothes they are wearing. They need food, clothing, baby milk, everything, Shawish said.

Shawish said the operation, which has coincided with Israeli moves to cut out the main United Nations Palestinian relief organization UNRWA by closing its headquarters in Jerusalem, appeared to be a test to prepare for similar moves against refugee camps across the whole of the West Bank.

"If it succeeds, they will export it to all the camps," he said.

The operation has drawn widespread international criticism and comes amid heightened fears among Palestinians of an organized effort by Israel to formally annex the West Bank, the area seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital during his first term, has not yet indicated whether he would support annexation, a move that could complicate efforts to strengthen ties with Saudi Arabia.

But he has already proposed moving Palestinians out of Gaza to make way for a U.S. property development, and has said he will give his position on the West Bank, which the Palestinians see as the core of a future independent state along with Gaza, in the near future.

For Palestinians, such talk has revived memories of the 'Nakba' or catastrophe when some 750,000 Palestinians lost their homes after the 1948 war and became refugees.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Christina Fincher)