Israel has deployed tanks into the occupied West Bank and ordered its army to organize for an “prolonged keep” to combat Palestinian armed teams within the space’s refugee camps.
Sunday’s transfer comes amongst an enlargement of army operations which have expelled an estimated 40,000 folks from their properties within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution over the previous month, since a ceasefire paused preventing in Gaza.
More and more strident calls by Israeli hardliners for full annexation of Palestinian territories and a proposal by United States President Donald Trump to expel everybody who lives in Gaza have stoked fears of a brand new Nakba.
Right here’s all the things you should know concerning the latest escalation within the West Financial institution and what it means:
What precisely did Israel do within the occupied West Financial institution?
Israel deployed three tanks into the Jenin refugee camp, the primary such deployment within the occupied West Financial institution since 2002, when Israel launched a bloody crackdown on a Palestinian rebellion generally known as the second Intifada, which lasted till 2005.
Israel started its assault on January 21 and has moved past Jenin and its camp southwards to Qabatiya and westwards to Burqin, and eastwards out of Tulkarem to Nur Shams refugee camp.
It has additionally raided additional south within the West Financial institution, hitting Kobar and Silwad north of Ramallah, the Beitunia neighbourhood of Ramallah, and Hebron.
Because it conducts its raids, the Israeli military can be expelling folks, destroying roads, imposing curfews for days on finish, blocking entry factors to cities, arresting folks and commandeering properties for army use.
Is that authorized?
No, it isn’t authorized.
The Worldwide Courtroom of Justice said in July that “governments have obligations to make sure that Israel brings the unlawful occupation to an instantaneous finish”.
The United Nations Basic Meeting in September adopted a resolution calling on Israel to finish its unlawful occupation of Palestine inside a 12 months.
Below the Oslo Accords signed within the early Nineties, Israel controls massive components of the West Financial institution, whereas the Palestinian Authority administers others, an association supposed as a precursor to a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Because the occupying energy, Israel is obliged underneath worldwide regulation to make sure the safety of Palestinians, the supply of fundamental companies, and the respect of human rights.
What’s the significance of Israel utilizing tanks?
Israel recurrently raids the West Financial institution however sometimes quickly withdraws its forces.
Using heavy tanks, on high of the same old armoured personnel carriers, indicators how intensely the army is aiming to suppress Palestinian armed teams.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, talking at a army ceremony on Sunday, mentioned the deployment confirmed that “we’re preventing terror with all means, in every single place”.
The Palestinian Ministry of Overseas Affairs and Expatriates mentioned the transfer was a continuation of Israel’s “genocide, displacement and annexation”.
Why now? What does Israel need?
Netanyahu has been underneath strain from far-right governing companions to crack down on armed resistance within the West Financial institution whereas preventing in Gaza and Lebanon is on maintain.
His announcement that Israel was “getting into terrorist strongholds, flattening complete streets that terrorists use, and their properties” additionally got here after a sequence of bus explosions close to Tel Aviv on Thursday evening. There have been no casualties reported and no teams claimed accountability.
Palestinians view the enlargement of raids as a part of a broader effort to cement Israeli management over the West Financial institution, the place three million Palestinians stay.
Israeli media quoted sources near the prime minister saying that the military intends to create massive corridors in Tulkarem and Jenin – just like the so-called Netzarim Hall in Gaza – for the motion of its forces and heavy gear.
Is Israel expelling folks from their properties once more?
About 40,000 Palestinians have fled the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarem, Nur Shams and Farea, which “are actually empty of residents”.
It isn’t clear how lengthy folks can be prevented from returning to their properties.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz mentioned troops will stay in components of the territory for a 12 months and that the tens of 1000’s of Palestinians who had been compelled out will be unable to return.
“We is not going to permit the return of residents, and we is not going to permit terrorism to return and develop,” he mentioned.
The place will displaced folks go?
No plan has been put in place by Israeli or Palestinian authorities to deal with the displaced, who’re residing in dire circumstances in makeshift lodging.
Israeli advocacy group Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) mentioned some 500 folks expelled from Tulkarem and Nur Shams discovered short-term shelter in al-Labad, east of Tulkarem, tenting out within the basements of mosques, occasion halls, and neighborhood centres.
Others took refuge in close by villages together with Ezbat al-Jarad, Bal’a, Attil, Bizzariya, and Jarushia, PHR mentioned.
ظروف قاسية يعيشها النازحون من مخيم طولكرم في ظل البرد والشتاء وعدوان المستمر. pic.twitter.com/JpGN0JUOsj
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) February 24, 2025
Translation: Individuals displaced from Tulkarem camp stay in harsh circumstances amid the chilly and the continuing aggression.
Is there any assist for many who have been expelled?
Israel has compelled the principle supplier of support to Palestinians – the UN Reduction and Works Company for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) – to shut its headquarters in Jerusalem. On Sunday, Katz ordered the UNRWA to halt exercise within the West Financial institution camps.
Israel accuses UNRWA of supporting armed teams and handed a law on January 30 banning it from working in Israel.
PHR mentioned there was a dire scarcity of meals, energy, and medical provides, including that the Israeli military is “obstructing Pink Crescent automobiles and humanitarian companies, delaying their capability to supply first support or transport sufferers for … therapy”.
Will this affect the ceasefire in Gaza?
The truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza already seems tenuous and assaults within the West Financial institution may tip the stability.
Hamas official Basem Naim instructed Al Jazeera that Hamas condemned the Israeli raids and noticed them as Netanyahu “deliberately sabotaging the deal” and setting the stage for renewed battle.
Netanyahu on Sunday mentioned the army elevated its “operational readiness” round Gaza and was “able to return to intense preventing at any second”.
