In another escalation over the weekend, Israeli tanks moved into Jenin - the epicentre of armed struggle against Israel - marking the first time tanks have been deployed to the Bank since the Second Intifada in 2002, when Israel fought a deadly Palestinian uprising.
Overshadowed by Gaza, the latest West Bank offensive - which Israel launched on January 21, two days after the current ceasefire in Gaza took hold - threatens to open a new, bloody chapter.
Israeli NGO Kerem Navot said this week that, in 2024 alone, 60 Israeli settlement outposts - usually illegal even under Israeli law - were established across the West Bank.
Since Hamas’s deadly 7 October 2023 assault on southern Israel, the Israeli military has launched deadly military-grade raids in the West Bank - it says to stamp out militancy amid a surge in attacks.
For example last July, Israel is said to have approved the largest West Bank land seizure in more than three decades when it declared 12.7 sq km (4.9 sq miles) of the Jordan Valley as “state property,” denying Palestinians their private ownership and usage rights.
