West Bank: Displaced Palestinians face Ramadan of ‘humiliation and uncertainty’

As Israel’s large -scale attack enters its sixth week, displaced families are left out of basic needs or hope for the future

Maysa al-Natour never imagined that he would spend the month of Ramadan away from home, in the Jenin refugee camp.

But since the Israeli invasion of the city occupied in West Bank began in January, the Palestinian mother and her family were internally moved to a nearby neighborhood.

Like tens of thousands of people like her, the displaced people from the northern West Bank field face terrible conditions in this Ramadan.

Their needs are still without being met and many still live in shelters.

“I spent more than 40 days without gas to cook and so far I don’t have a washing machine and I have to wash clothes at a neighbor’s house,” Al-Natour told Middle East Eye.

“There are no simple ingredients, not even food suitable for my children, and IFTAR and Suhoor Diaries represent a great challenge,” she added.

The uncertainty of the future is another source of suffering for displaced people, as they hear the constant sounds of bombing, demolitions and fires of houses within the fields.

They are in the dark about if they will ever return to their homes or if their lives will continue in this state of turbulence in the near future.

The Israeli army launched a large -scale attack on the cities of Jenin and Tulkarem in northern West Bank in January.

According to the UN, the operation moved more than 40,000 Palestinians.

Last month, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that 40,000 Palestinians displaced by the Israeli troops of the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams would not be allowed to return.

He ordered Israeli forces to remain in the area for at least one year.

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli Army and the settlers intensified the attacks on the West Bank, leaving about 930 Palestinians dead, 7,000 injured and 14,500 prisoners.

‘Living a nightmare’

At first Al-Natour and his seven family family were displaced several times, facing difficult conditions before taking refuge in an empty residential building where they remain.

The apartment where they were relocated was completely empty. In the early days, she and her children slept on the floor, without matches or blankets.

Al-Natour lived in the Al-Hawashin neighborhood of the Jenin Campo and, since the beginning of the Israeli attack, she failed to know the fate of her home. When we talked to her, she had just returned from an attempt to get there.

“I insisted on going to my house to see if she had been damaged. I found her a little demolished and uninhabitable. All the furniture had been shattered by soldiers’ bullets, ”she explained.

Forced people leaving the Palestinian refugee camp of Nur Shams watch the Israeli attack of a nearby hill amid an offensive in progress in the occupied West Bank on March 6, 2025 | AFP/ZAIN JAAFAR

Despite the destruction, it took some kitchen utensils, although damaged. While there, she remembered that the Israeli army returned to the area, holding them in a nearby house for an hour before they could escape.

Even displaced, the Israeli army is often parked in front of the building where Al-Natour and his family are staying. She also feels deep sadness whenever she sees smoke rising from the houses in the countryside.

“There is no future. I sold a piece of land to buy a house for my son above mine, and now all our homes have been demolished and are uninhabitable, ”she said.

“I feel like I’m living a nightmare and I want to wake up.”

Humiliation in Ramadan

Bayan al-Qaraawi lives in the field of Nour Shams, near Tulkarm, who has been under Israeli aggression for over 20 days. Although she resident in the surroundings, the soldiers expelled her and her family, along with all 30 relatives of her husband who were living in five apartments.

The invasion of the house was violent and brutal, according to Al-Qaraawi. The soldiers gave them no time for them to do their bags or take anything with them except the clothes they were wearing.

“We were forced to go out under the gun, with the soldiers shouting and rushing us out. The streets were devastated, and nothing was suitable for cars. It was a terrible day, ”she said.

After a difficult journey through the streets, which became mounds of land, Bayan and his family managed to leave the camp.

They dispersed to various places, with Al-Qaraawi, her husband and four children going to her mother’s house in Nablus.

The husband’s family was spread, with each one now living in tight apartments – ten people forced to share a small space. Some sought refuge in shelter centers under severe conditions.

“We used to live comfortably, and I’ve never seen anyone in my family asking for food. But now, during Ramadan, the displaced people face an unprecedented humiliation, and our future is uncertain, ”she told Mee.

“We fear that our homes be demolished or burned, like many others. We follow each news with anguish and fear, ”he added.

Her children have been out of school since the invasion of the Tulkarm camp, adjacent to Nour Shams for over 40 days. Now they look miserable, without a place to play, without education and without access to basic rights.

Arrested in the camp

Unlike many residents of the West Bank attacked cities, Thaer Daraghmeh and his family refused to leave their home in the Tulkarm field, being trapped in a constant circle of danger.

He told the MEE that more than 250 families remain in camp, living in neighborhoods that do not suffer constant incursions, but are still taken by an unprecedented fear for their destination.

“We refused to leave because we knew that if we did, we would never come back. So we chose to stay, ”said Daraghmeh.

“At all times, we hear shots, explosions and the demolition of houses. We see thick smoke after some are burned. But despite all this, we remain firm. ”

Although the amount of help that comes to people in the field has improved during Ramadan, it is still short of what is needed.

According to Daraghmeh, water and electricity are often cut, and there is no official Palestinian support for their perseverance.

The frequent incursions of the Israeli army make life even more difficult. Daraghmeh can’t leave home 37 days ago except for a 30 -minute departure.

“I have five children who don’t live a normal life. They can’t be close to windows, play loudly or leave the house. Their psychological state has deteriorated a lot, ”he explained.

Daraghmeh fears that the Israeli army forces them to evacuate, as he did with other residents of the field.

For him, leaving the house would mean the end of life in the countryside.

Originally published by MEE on 03/08/2025

Por fayha shalashem ramallah – Palestina Ocupada