On July 3, 2024, a funeral was held at the Nur Shams refugee camp on the West Bank of the Jordan River near Tulkarm, during the Israel-Palestine War. On July 3, four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike.

　　On July 3rd 2024, a funeral was held at the Nur Shams refugee camp on the West Bank of the Jordan River near Tulkarm, in the midst of the Israel-Palestine conflict was held. On July 3rd, four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike. The four were wrapped in the flag of Islamic Jihad, and mourners offered prayers at their bodies. The Israeli military announced that its bombers had bombed an armed group that had planted explosives in the refugee camp.

　The Israeli military has approved the largest land expropriation in the West Bank in more than 30 years, a settlement watchdog group said on July 3, 2024. The expansion of Israeli occupation in the West Bank reflected the strong influence of Jewish settlers on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. It has seized control of the development of settlements, strengthened Israel's control over the territory, and accelerated its expansionist policy by preventing the creation of a Palestinian state.

　　The West Bank has long been the scene of violence by settlers, who have driven Palestinian communities out of the area. The violence has increased sharply since the outbreak of the Hamas offensive in Gaza on October 7, 2023.The UN says that since October, settlers have carried out more than 1,000 attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. The three million Palestinians living in the West Bank are under Israeli military rule.

　　By declaring the occupied West Bank to be state land, the Israeli government leased the land to Israelis and prohibited Palestinians from owning land individually. The land expropriation in 2024 was continuous, and it connected two existing settlements to form a solid barrier near the border with Jordan. Before this land was declared state-owned, the Israeli military had declared it a closed area.

 

Mourners pray over the bodies wrapped with Islamic Jihad flags, of four Palestinians who were killed by an Israeli airstrike late Tuesday, during their funeral near Tulkarem on July 3, 2024. | (Nasser Nasser/AP)