The News
Israeli soldiers raided the West Bank on Wednesday, killing at least nine people in an unusually large incursion into the occupied territory.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) described the move as a “counterterrorism operation,” targeting at least four cities, while the Israeli foreign minister said the attack aimed to “dismantle Iranian-Islamic terror infrastructures.” He also accused Iran of seeking to open a new front against Israel, alongside Gaza and the Lebanese border.
Hours later, the United States moved to impose fresh sanctions on an Israeli non-governmental organization that supports settlers in the West Bank and a settler official over “extreme levels” of violence towards Palestinians and called on Israel to hold settlers accountable.
“Extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes intense human suffering, harms Israel’s security, and undermines the prospect for peace and stability in the region,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
While Israel has been fighting in Gaza for nearly a year, persistent violence in the West Bank — largely by Israeli settlers towards Palestinians — has garnered little attention.
SIGNALS
Growing fears Israel will use Gaza tactics in West Bank
The Israeli operation is the country’s largest in the West Bank since 2002, and the IDF have suggested that it could continue for days. The incursion has also raised fears that Israel will carry out Gaza-style attacks, which have displaced millions and killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, in the occupied West Bank: “The Israelis think this is a golden opportunity for them to use some tactics used in Gaza unchecked,” Hassan Barari, a professor of international affairs at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera. Following the raids Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia to return to the West Bank.
Israeli forces have used war to seize Palestinian territory
Jewish extremists in the West Bank have capitalized on the war to seize territory that has historically belonged to Palestinians, one Israeli organization that monitors settlers in the area told the BBC. Tensions following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel have run high, and a “mix of rage and fear” has driven some extremists to seize even more land, Yonatan Mizrahi of Peace Now told the broadcaster. Settler violence is rising, he added. “I think it’s extremely dangerous,” Mizrahi said. “It’s increasing the hate on both sides.”