Israeli forces destroy public infrastructure as defence minister says tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians will not be allowed to return. Israel has expanded its military operation in the occupied West Bank, deploying tanks in the north of the Palestinian territory for the first time in 20 years.
Palestinian authorities condemned the “dangerous escalation” after the Israeli defence minister said troops would stay in parts of the territory for a year and that tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians would not be allowed to return. Eyewitnesses saw several tanks moving along unpaved tracks into Jenin, a longtime stronghold of the armed resistance against Israel.
Israel has intensified its crackdown on the Palestinian territory, vowing to eliminate militancy. The offensive began in the northern West Bank on 21 January, two days after the current ceasefire in Gaza took effect, and has since expanded to surrounding areas.
Israel’s escalation followed bomb blasts on three buses in separate parking depots in Tel Aviv’s suburbs on Thursday night. Another explosive device was found and safely dismantled. The buses were empty at the time, resulting in no injuries. Investigators subsequently arrested two Jewish Israelis and a Palestinian for their suspected involvement in the bombings, The Times of Israel reported.
On Sunday, Mr Netanyahu said his troops would stay in the West Bank “as long as needed” and that the deployment of tanks for the first time in 20 years signified one clear message: “We are fighting terrorism with all means and everywhere.”. Israel controls vast swathes of the West Bank while the Palestinian Authority governs other areas. Though Israeli troops frequently raid areas run by the Palestinian Authority, they usually withdraw after their operations.
The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the latest Israeli military action as “a dangerous escalation of the situation in the West Bank” and called on the international community to step in against what it described as illegal “aggression”.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the deployment of tanks. “This is a dangerous Israeli escalation that will not lead to stability or calm, and we warn of this dangerous escalation,” he said.
Israeli forces have been raiding Palestinian homes and demolishing vital infrastructure with bulldozers for nearly a month, primarily targeting Jenin and Tulkarem, Al Jazeera reported. “Even if they stay, we will return to the camp at the end,” Mohamed al-Sadi, who was displaced from Jenin, told the Associated Press news agency. “This camp is ours. We have no other place to go.”.
Palestinians see the deadly raids as an attempt to tighten Israeli control over the West Bank, where three million people live under military rule. The Israeli army said tanks had been deployed in Jenin for the first time since the end of the Second Intifada, or uprising, in 2005.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said he and prime minister Netanyahu had ordered the military to “increase the intensity of the activity to thwart terrorism” across all West Bank refugee camps. “We will not allow the return of residents, and we will not allow terrorism to return and grow,” Mr Katz said. “I have instructed the military to prepare for a long stay over the coming year in the purged camps and not to allow residents to return and terrorism to grow back.”.
He had previously directed the military to prepare for “an extended stay” in several urban refugee camps in the West Bank, now “emptied of residents” after around 40,000 Palestinians fled. Since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, Israel has killed over 800 Palestinians in the West Bank.
