CNN
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The Israeli military has stepped up operations throughout the occupied West Bank, targeting Palestinian militant cells, setting up roadblocks and cutting off communities from the outside world.
At least 10 people have been killed in a sudden expansion of Israeli security operations in the West Bank and after the start of a fragile cease-fire process in Gaza, which would gradually release Israeli hostages and gradually withdraw Israeli forces. will also be seen.
The move also comes as Israel’s right, and many in the settler movement feel emboldened by the words of some Trump administration officials who have suggested that Israel take most or all of the West Bank. Areas with more than three inhabitants have the right to annex. Million Palestinians
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has spoken of a new mobilization in the West Bank, saying the army will adopt tactics learned in the Gaza offensive in its efforts to eradicate militant groups and, In his words, “Ensure that terrorism does not return.”
The Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, a sprawling area of narrow streets that has long been a stronghold of militant factions, is front and center in the latest Israel Defense Forces (IDF) campaign.
Katz said on Tuesday that Operation “Iron Wall” will “eliminate terrorists and terrorist infrastructure in the camp, ensuring that terrorists do not return to the camp after the operation is over – bar in Gaza.” A first lesson in the method of bar raids.”
The goal of the operation in Jenin is more ambitious than previous incursions. Hundreds of civilians have left the camp. Jenin Governor Kamal Abu al-Raab told CNN on Thursday that it is now almost empty. He added that water had been cut off and the area was “under siege”.
The IDF’s latest actions include erecting more barriers in the West Bank. The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said on Thursday that there are now about 900 military posts, with more than 173 iron gates installed since October 2023.
Al-Roube said the IDF operation was the “biggest and most intense” operation ever launched. “We’re talking about over 20,000 people displaced. Many people have been arrested.”
Palestinian television reported Thursday that the IDF had set up roadblocks near Ramallah and sealed off a village in the area. Additionally, he said military checkpoints in the Nablus area had been reinforced, leaving thousands of people stranded amid long waits.
People were also unable to leave Jericho, where military posts were closed. Palestinian journalists reported Thursday that tear gas was used against people waiting at the Jericho checkpoint.
A woman died of a heart attack at a checkpoint near Hebron after the IDF prevented her from being taken to a hospital, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported Wednesday.
Mustafa Barghouti, an independent Palestinian politician, told CNN that the trip from Ramallah to Jericho, which normally takes 45 minutes, can now take five hours on some days.
He said that most of the traffic from the south and north of the West Bank is paralyzed while illegal Israeli settlers are moving freely and continue to attack Palestinian cars on the streets.
“We are seeing troubling patterns of illegal use of force in the West Bank that is unnecessary, indiscriminate and disproportionate. It is a reflection of the tactics that Israeli forces have used in Gaza,” Angelita Carrida said. , said the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
The IDF said Thursday that the checkpoints were “a tool we use in the fight against terrorism, enabling the movement of civilians while providing a form of screening to prevent terrorists from escaping.” layer is provided..”
The operation began two days after the start of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire and reflects a shift in focus by the Israeli government.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday: “We have begun to change the concept of security in Judea and Samaria. [the Biblical term many Israelis use to describe the West Bank] And in the campaign to eradicate terrorism in the region.
He also claimed that the cabinet had decided that security in the West Bank had become an official war target for Israel. The Prime Minister’s Office has not confirmed the move.
The cease-fire in Gaza has allowed Israeli security forces to focus on the West Bank, where groups affiliated with Hamas have become more active. However, there is a risk that intensified Israeli military action in the West Bank will put pressure on the Gaza ceasefire.
Katz has often accused Iran of being behind the upsurge in militant activity in the West Bank and arming the groups.
“We will not allow Judea and Samaria to become like Gaza or South Lebanon… We will work to eliminate Iran’s tentacles in refugee camps in the West Bank and ensure the safety of communities and residents.”
Israeli officials have said that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has failed to confront and subdue militant groups. In December, Palestinian security forces’ operations against militants in Jenin made little progress. Militant factions include the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Qasim Brigades, which together Fought under the banner of the Jeanine Battalion.
Israel’s Channel 11 said this Thursday, citing a senior military source., “The PA did what they could. We recognized the need to act against the capabilities of the terrorists, we are no longer waiting for their ambitions. Our goal is to neutralize the Jenin Battalion.
For some right-wing Israelis, the arrival of the Trump administration — with its success in undermining Hamas and Hezbollah – It provides a unique opportunity to increase Israeli dominance in the region.
During his first term, Trump abandoned the long-held US position that the settlement is illegal. Biden restored it. Several of Trump’s nominees have suggested that Israel has the right to annex the West Bank.
More than 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war. Jewish settlement there is considered illegal under international law.
Elise Stefanik, the new US ambassador to the United Nations, said Tuesday that she agrees with the view that Israel has a “biblical right” to annex the West Bank. Mike Huckabee, who is expected to become the US ambassador to Israel, has said in the past that “there is no such thing as a Palestinian.”
On Monday, the day he took office, Trump rescinded sanctions imposed by the former Biden administration on far-right Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. is
Anti-Palestinian violence by extremist settlers has become an almost daily occurrence in the West Bank. In 2024, the United Nations documented 1,420 incidents of settler violence that resulted in loss of life and/or property in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Some of those responsible were arrested, but the Israeli Defense Ministry said last week that under Gaza’s terms “in light of the expected release of terrorists in the Jewish and Samaritan territories” Jewish settlers are under what is known as administrative detention. What was the decision to release? armistice agreement.
Katz said the decision to release the settlers would “send a clear message of strengthening and emboldening the settlement, which is at the forefront of the struggle against Palestinian terrorism and growing security challenges.”
Correction: This story has been updated to correct Mike Huckabee’s previous comments about the Palestinians.
