In the West Bank city of Tulkarem, the landscape has been transformed after Israeli army bulldozers ploughed through its two refugee camps in what the military called a hunt for Hamas, AFP reports.

The army gave thousands of displaced residents just a few hours to retrieve belongings from their homes before demolishing buildings and clearing wide avenues through the rubble.

The army has said that it would demolish 104 more buildings in the Tulkarem camp this week.

“We came back to the camp and found our house demolished. No one informed us, no one told us anything,” said Abd al-Rahman Ajaj, 62, who had been hoping to collect his belongings.

Ajaj said the destruction had been gradual, drawn out over the course of the operation, which the army has dubbed “Iron Wall”.