Israel Launches Around 38 Airstrikes in Occupied West Bank Since January, UN Says

Occupied West Bank (Quds News Network)- Israel’s weeks-long assault on the occupied West Bank has displaced around 45,000 Palestinians from their homes, with the military carrying out about 38 airstrikes since January.

Israel has been waging a brutal offensive on the occupied territory since January as Israeli troops have deployed in northern parts of the occupied West Bank in military helicopters and large convoys of armoured vehicles, attacking the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm and their refugee camps.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (Unrwa), said that Israel has launched at least 38 airstrikes in the occupied West Bank since January, a substantial escalation. Air strikes were extremely rare in the occupied West Bank until 2024.

The International Federation For Human Rights said in February that around 45,000 Palestinians had been displaced from northern parts of the occupied West Bank.

UNRWA said that several refugee camps have been “nearly emptied of their residents”, adding that this is the longest campaign in the territory since the 2000-2005 Second Intifada.

Since the start of the year, more than 75 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Jenin

On January 21, the Israeli military announced the start of a military operation in Jenin, which has been marked by forced displacement, home demolitions, mass arrests, reports of field executions by Israeli forces, and a siege on the Jenin refugee camp that has caused widespread infrastructure destruction. According to local and medical sources, at least 40 people have been killed in Jenin since the start of the year. The assault is now in its 29th day during which 26 people killed.

Tulkarm

Days later, a new operation was announced in Tulkarm, now in its 23th day during which Israeli forces have killed Palestinian civilians, raided homes, displaced residents, conducted demolitions, and caused significant destruction. At least 12 Palestinians have been killed since the start of year. Local sources stated that the Israeli forces have forced more than 10,000 Palestinians, nearly 80% of the camp’s population, to be displaced forcibly to towns and villages in the Tulkarem Governorate.

From Gaza to West Bank: Israel’s Genocide

Israeli media, citing a military source, reported the Israeli military’s ongoing raids are expected to go on for at least several days, mobilising extensive troops, special forces and intelligence personnel.
The operation is codenamed “The Iron Wall”, said the Israeli military.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the operation, saying, “Under the guidance of the Security Cabinet, the IDF, Shin Bet, and the Israel Police launched a wide-ranging and significant military operation”, claiming it aims to “combat terrorism.”

More than 900 Palestinians have been killed and more than 6,700 injured by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the start of Israel’s Gaza genocide on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Human rights groups and experts have drawn parallels between Israeli military operations in the West Bank and the genocide in Gaza, suggesting that tactics employed in Gaza are being replicated in the West Bank.

The Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq has warned that Israel is using many of the same tactics in the West Bank that it employed throughout its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

“Israel’s genocidal tactics to destroy the Palestinian group are further evident in the West Bank, including Jerusalem,” Al-Haq warned.

The tactics include attacks on hospitals, patients and staff, extensive destruction of Palestinian areas, and the wanton killing of Palestinians.

On the day Israel launched its operation in Jenin, independent UN expert Francesca Albanese issued a similar warning.

“If it is not forced to stop, Israel’s genocide of Palestinians will not be confined to Gaza. Mark my words,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter, remarking that 10 Palestinians had been killed in Jenin already.

“The situation in the northern West Bank is a painful reminder of the first weeks that followed 7 October 2023,” Al-Haq stated.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has expressed concern over the use of military tactics, disproportionate force, and movement restrictions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. He stated that the situation in these areas is “dramatically deteriorating.”

“They are attempting to divide the camp into several parts. It’s very similar to northern Gaza,” Michael Milshtein, a former head of the Palestinian division in the Israeli military intelligence, also told The Wall Street Journal.