Israel begins West Bank operation amid settlement expansion

Israel's military on Wednesday announced that it had launched "a broad counterterrorism operation" in the northern area of the occupied West Bank.

What the IDF said about the operation

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that a joint operation involving Shin Bet, Israel's internal security agency, and the Israel Border Police had begun "in the area of northern Samaria," using the Israeli biblical term for part of the West Bank.

"IDF and ISA forces will not allow terrorism to take root in the area and are acting proactively to thwart it," the IDF said in a statement on X.

Violence in the occupied West Bank escalated significantly following the Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Israel's settlements in the West Bank

Over 500,000 Israelis live in settlements across the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. The settlements are considered illegal under international law

The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli settlers or military forces since October 7, 2023. 

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) this month said that Israeli settlers were responsible for at least 264 attacks on Palestinians and their property during the month of October, making it the worst month for settler violence since the UN began recording such attacks in 2006.

According to Israeli figures, 43 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in the West Bank in Palestinian attacks.

Perpetrators of settler violence are very rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities, according to a anaylsis by human rights groups.

"We are witnessing the total abandonment of Palestinian lives," Israeli human rights group B’Tselem's executive director Yuli Novak said last week. "The international community must put an end to Israel’s impunity and hold those responsible for crimes against the Palestinian people to account."

A report published by Human Rights Watch last week said Israeli military operations in the West Bank have forcibly displaced 32,000 Palestinians from the refugee camps of Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarem since the beginning of this year.

Israel plans settlement expansion

The Israeli settlements in the West Bank have drawn international condemnation. In August, Israel approved a plan allowing new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Under the plan, Israel would build nearly 3,500 new apartments to enlarge the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim.

The UN and Palestinian rights groups have warned that the plan would essentially divide the Palestinian territory and make any two-state solution untenable.

Edited by: Sean Sinico