Politics Israel begins major military operation in the West Bank
Shortly after the start of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Israel launched an extensive military operation against Palestinian militants in the West Bank.
22.01.2025, 05:23
SDA
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, ten people were killed and at least 40 injured during the operation in the city of Jenin. The military operation, the latest in a series of raids by the Israeli army in the West Bank in recent months, was aimed at "fighting terrorism" and would be "extensive and significant", explained Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to media reports, ground troops and special units entered Jenin, which is considered a stronghold of radical Palestinians. There were also drone attacks. Security forces from the Palestinian Authority, who had been deployed against militants for several weeks, withdrew beforehand according to Palestinian reports.
Violence on the rise
The Israeli forces' action in Jenin comes at a time when the already tense situation in the West Bank has worsened dramatically due to a strengthening of Palestinian militants and increasing violence by radical Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians.
On Monday, one day after a ceasefire in the Gaza war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas came into force, Israel's Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi said that Israel must be prepared for extensive anti-terror operations in the West Bank in the coming days "in order to pre-empt the terrorists and arrest them before they reach our civilians".
One day later, Halevi announced his resignation as army chief, citing the military's failure to protect Israel from the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023, which claimed around 1,200 lives. The massacre triggered the Gaza war. Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and has been weakened by the Israeli army in the course of the war, has stepped up its efforts to arm radical Palestinians in the West Bank in order to open up another front against Israel, analysts told the New York Times.
Netanyahu: Taking action against the "Iranian axis"
Commenting on the operation in Jenin, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said that action was being taken wherever the "Iranian axis" reached. In addition to Hamas, Iran's allies include Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has also been militarily weakened by Israel, and the Houthi militia in Yemen.
According to Palestinian figures, the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank has risen to 828 since the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023. The situation is being exacerbated by the violence of radical Jewish settlers.
Israeli settlers attack villages
When dozens of Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli prisons in exchange for three Hamas hostages after the ceasefire in Gaza came into force and many of them returned to the West Bank, there were repeated attacks on Palestinian villages by radical Israeli settlers. According to Israeli media reports, the masked settlers set fire to buildings and vehicles in the villages.
During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel conquered the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, among other territories. Around half a million Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank, surrounded by three million Palestinians. Including East Jerusalem, there are even 700,000 settlers. In 2016, the UN Security Council described the settlements as a violation of international law and called on Israel to stop all settlement activities in the Palestinian territories.
Hamas calls for "general mobilization"
However, US President Donald Trump, who had only recently been sworn in, lifted sanctions against radical settlers in the West Bank, which had been imposed by his predecessor Joe Biden's administration, one day after the Gaza ceasefire began. Among other things, assets in the USA were blocked. US citizens and all people in the USA in general were also banned from doing business with sanctioned organizations and individuals. The European Union had also imposed sanctions against radical settlers.
After Trump lifted the sanctions, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry in Ramallah expressed fears that there could now be even more violence by Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Meanwhile, Hamas called on the population to "general mobilization" and confrontations with the Israeli security forces and settlers. In view of the Israeli military operation in Jenin, the Islamic Jihad organization also called on the residents of the West Bank to "oppose this criminal operation by all means".
Injured in knife attack in Tel Aviv
Meanwhile, four people were injured in a knife attack in the Israeli coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv this evening, according to the Israeli emergency services. According to media reports, the perpetrator was shot by a passer-by. The police called it a terrorist attack. According to the Times of Israel, the Moroccan-born man, who had a permanent residence permit in the USA, had entered Israel as a tourist on Saturday. Hamas praised him as a martyr and presented his act as a reaction to the Israeli military operation in Jenin.
As the newspaper reported later that night, border police officers shot dead three Palestinians who had thrown stones at them in a refugee camp near Jerusalem. According to the police, dozens of Palestinians had begun to riot during an operation by the security forces. The police officers felt their lives were in danger and opened fire.
