In recent weeks, the Israeli army has launched a renewed military campaign in the northern West Bank. Palestinians say these operations aim to establish a new “security reality” to facilitate the rebuilding of Israeli settlements dismantled in 2005.
The Israeli army is launching a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank, claiming it aims to prevent the regrouping of armed resistance groups in the Tubas district. But the real reason may be related to settlement expansion.
The forcible displacement of over 40,000 people in the northern West Bank is repeating scenes from Gaza and stoking fears of ethnic cleansing. “The most important thing is to stay in our home,” a resident of al-Far’a refugee camp tells Mondoweiss.
The Israeli army is expanding its offensive in the northern West Bank and employing some of the same tactics that it has used in Gaza over the past 15 months, including the mass expulsion of residents, airstrikes, and large-scale demolitions.
As the Israeli assault on the northern West Bank enters its sixth day, Palestinians launched two attacks on Israelis in Hebron to the south. Meanwhile, the death of six Israeli captives in Gaza caused widespread anti-Netanyahu protests in Tel Aviv.
Israel’s old policy of containing armed resistance in the West Bank is over. Palestinians are now wondering whether the war on Gaza has expanded to the West Bank.
The Israeli army claims that its operation in the northern West Bank cities of Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas is the largest since Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.
Israeli forces carried out a drone strike on a crowded refugee camp, killing five people including a paramedic and her daughter. Eyewitnesses said Israeli forces desecrated the bodies with a bulldozer before taking four bodies into custody.
Israeli forces conducted a four-hour long raid in the norther Jordan valley, killing three Palestinians. Residents say one of the targets of the raid was a resistance fighter and commander of a local battalion called the Tubas Brigade.
The West Bank has become a crucial front for the battle over political legitimacy among Palestinian factions as a new phase of armed resistance rises.