Israel’s Smotrich Says West Bank Cities “Must Look Like Gaza’s Jabalia”
Occupied West Bank (Quds News Network)- Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday that Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank “must look like Gaza’s Jabalia,” referring to the extensive destruction Israel has caused in Gaza.
Yesterday, three Israeli settlers were killed and eight others injured in a shooting operation near the illegal West Bank settlement of Kedumim, Israeli media said, claiming at least two Palestinians opened fire at cars and a bus outside the settlement before fleeing the scene.
Following the operation, Smotrich said, “Funduq, Nablus and Jenin must look like Jabalia,” referring to the northern Gaza area that Israel has levelled and deprived of humanitarian aid for weeks.
“The terrorism in [the West Bank] and the terrorism from Gaza and Iran is the same terrorism – and it must be defeated,” Smotrich added on Monday, according to the Times of Israel.
Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza has become a “ghost town” due to Israel’s relentless attacks, with over 70 percent of the camp’s buildings completely destroyed, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Haaretz, which briefly had access to the camp in besieged northern Gaza, said in a December report that the number is an estimate by the Israeli army.
Monday’s operation took place amid a spike in Israeli assaults against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The past year has also seen an uptick in settler attacks.
Since the start of Israel’s assault on Gaza in October 2023, more than 45,800 Palestinians have been killed, some 11,000 are missing and believed to be under the rubble. In the West Bank, Israeli attacks killed 835 Palestinians and injured 6,450 others.
