Israel has deployed tanks in an occupied West Bank and ordered its soldiers to prepare for an “prolonged stay” to fight the Palestinian armed groups in the region’s refugee camps.
Sunday’s decision is part of an expansion of military operations which expelled around 40,000 people from their home in the West Bank occupied by Israeli in the last month, because a cease-fire took a break in the fighting in Gaza.
The increasingly strident calls by Israeli regigurants for the complete annexation of the Palestinian territories and a proposal from the President of the United States Donald Trump will expel all those who live in Gaza have delighted fears of a new NAKBA.
Here is everything you need to know about recent climbing in the West Bank and what it means:
What exactly did Israel in occupied West Bank?
Israel has deployed three tanks in Jenin’s refugee camp, the first deployment of this type in the West Bank occupied since 2002, when Israel launched a bloody repression against a Palestinian uprising known as the second intifada, which lasted until 2005.
Israel began his attack on January 21 and passed Jenin and his camp to the south to Qabatiya and west in Burqin, and east of Tulkarem for Nur Shams Refugee Camp.
He also descended further south in the West Bank, hitting Kobar and Silwad north of Ramallah, The Beitunia district of Ramallah and Hebron.
While he is carrying out his raids, the Israeli army also expels people, destroying roads, imposing fire cover for days, blocking the access points to cities, arresting people and requisitioned houses for military use.
Is it legal?
No, it’s not legal.
The International Court of Justice said in July that “governments have obligations to ensure that Israel immediately puts illegal occupation”.
The United Nations General Assembly in September adopted a resolution calling Israel to end its illegal occupation of Palestine within one year.
Under the Oslo agreements signed in the early 1990s, Israel controlled large parts of the West Bank, while the Palestinian authority administers others, an arrangement intended for a precursor of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
As an occupying power, Israel is obliged under international law to ensure the protection of Palestinians, the provision of fundamental services and respect for human rights.
What is the meaning of Israel using tanks?
Israel regularly poses the West Bank, but generally quickly withdraws its strength.
The use of heavy tanks, in addition to the usual armored vehicles, indicates how intensely the soldiers aim to remove the Palestinian armed groups.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking on Sunday during a military ceremony, said that deployment has shown that “we fight terror with all means, everywhere”.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said that this decision was a continuation of the “genocide, displacement and annexation” of Israel.
Why now? What does Israel want?
Netanyahu was under pressure from the extreme right, governing the partners to repress armed resistance in the West Bank while the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon are pending.
His announcement that Israel “entered terrorist bastions, flattened entire streets that terrorists use, and their houses” also came after a series of bus explosions near Tel Aviv on Thursday evening. No victim has been reported and no groups claimed responsibility.
The Palestinians consider the expansion of raids in the context of a wider effort to cement Israeli control over the West Bank, where three million Palestinians live.
The Israeli media have cited sources close to the Prime Minister saying that the army intends to create large corridors in Tulkarem and Jenin – like the so -called Netzarim corridor in Gaza – for the movement of its forces and its equipment heavy.
Israel expels people from home again?
About 40,000 Palestinians fled Jenin’s refugee camps, Tulkarem, Nur Shams and Farea, who “are now empty of residents”.
It is not clear how long people will be prevented from returning home.
The Israeli Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, said that the troops will remain in certain parts of the territory for a year and that the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been forced will not be able to return.
“We will not allow the return of residents, and we will not allow terrorism to return and grow,” he said.
Where will the displaced people go?
No plan has been put in place by the Israeli or Palestinian authorities to house the displaced, who live in disastrous conditions in makeshift housing.
Doctors of Israeli Human Rights Plaids (PHR) said that 500 people expelled from Tulkarem and Nur Shams had found a temporary shelter in Al-Labad, east of Tulkarem, camping in the sub-sub Mosques, event rooms and community centers.
Others have taken refuge in neighboring villages, notably Ezbat al-Jarad, Bal’a, Attil, Bizzariya and Jarushia, said Phr.
ظروف قاسية يعيشها النازحون من مخيم طولكرم في ظل البرد والشتاء وعدوان الم. pic.twitter.com/jpgn0juosj
– شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) February 24, 2025
Translation: displaced people from the Tulkarem camp live in difficult conditions in the middle of the cold and the continuous aggression.
Is there help for those who have been expelled?
Israel forced the main provider of aid to the Palestinians – the United Nations Rescue and Work Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) – to close its headquarters in Jerusalem. On Sunday, Katz ordered UNRWA to stop activity in the West Bank camps.
Israel accuses an UNRWA of supporting armed groups and ade adopted a law on January 30 prohibiting operating in Israel.
PHR said there was a disastrous shortage of food, power and medical supplies, adding that the Israeli army “hinders vehicles of the Red Crescent and Humanitarian Services, delaying their ability to provide first aid or transport Patients for… treatment ”.
Does this have an impact on the ceasefire in Gaza?
The truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza already seems tenuous and attacks in the West Bank could tip the balance.
The head of Hamas, Naim, told Tel Aviv Tribune that Hamas had condemned the Israeli raids and considered them as Netanyahu “intentionally sabotaging the agreement” and preparing the ground for a renewed war.
Netanyahu said on Sunday that the soldiers increased his “operational preparation” around Gaza and was “ready to return to intense fights at any time”.
