What is Israel’s deadly ‘Iron Wall’ military attack in Jenin, West Bank? , Israel-Palestine conflict news
Israeli security forces and settler groups have engaged in attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire came into force on Sunday.
Attacks on settlers began almost immediately after the ceasefire began, reportedly by members of Israel’s far-right, targeting some villages that were home to released Palestinian women and child prisoners. Other Palestinian homes appear to have been targeted at random.
Separately, Israeli forces launched an operation called “Iron Wall” in the city of Jenin and the adjacent Jenin refugee camp.
The military attack follows a week-long raid by Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces on the Jenin refugee camp, where it targeted local Palestinian fighters, in what was described as an effort to restore law and order. But many Palestinians see it as an attack. Crackdown on independent Palestinian armed groups opposing the Israeli occupation.
How many people have died?
Twelve people have been killed in attacks by Israeli forces in Jenin – 10 during a raid in Jenin Governorate on Tuesday and two on Wednesday night.
It is still unclear how many of those killed on Tuesday were civilians, but a PA statement said Israeli forces “opened fire on civilians and security forces, resulting in the injuries of several civilians and a number of security personnel”. “. The PA said at least 35 people were injured.
The deaths on Wednesday occurred in the city of Burkina, just west of Jenin. Palestinian news network Al Quds Today reported that Muhammad Abu al-Assad and Qutayba al-Shalabi were killed in “an armed clash with (Israeli) occupation forces”. Hamas’s armed wing said both men were Hamas members, although the Israeli military said they were affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Meanwhile, at least 21 Palestinians have been injured in attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank since the ceasefire began on Sunday.
Where is the violence happening?
Settler violence appears to be concentrated on at least six villages: Sinjil, Turmus Aya, Ein Siniya and al-Lubban Ashqiya (near Ramallah) and Funduq and Zinsfut, (both near Nablus). According to the Guardian, six villages were identified by the Israeli government as homes to women and children released under the ceasefire.
In the city of Jenin, the army surrounded a government hospital and a nearby refugee camp and reportedly ordered the evacuation of hundreds of people. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz described the operation in Jenin as a “change in security strategy”. He said the effort was part of Israel’s military plan for the occupied West Bank and was “the first lesson from the pattern of repeated raids in Gaza”.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said it is being prevented from accessing the bodies of the injured and the dead by Israeli forces.
Dozens of military checkpoints and blockades have been set up throughout the West Bank, forcing civilians to wait for six to eight hours.
Has Jenin been targeted before?
it is.
Israel has long accused Iran of supplying weapons to armed groups in Jenin and particularly its refugee camp. Jenin has long been a center of Palestinian resistance, and the growth of an independent armed group, the Jenin Brigades, has particularly concerned Israel.
In December, the PA reported the conflict as the largest and most violent confrontation with armed groups in the West Bank since Hamas’s expulsion from Gaza in 2007.
Believed by many analysts to be positioning itself as the natural administrator of post-war Gaza, the PA was accused of repeating tactics deployed by Israeli forces in previous attacks on Jenin and elsewhere: armored personnel carriers. Surrounding the camp with convoys, firing indiscriminately at civilians, briefly detaining and abusing young men, and cutting off water and electricity supplies to civilians inside.
Before the PA attack, Jenin had been hit by several attacks by Israeli forces. In May 2022, Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Aqleh was killed by Israel in one such attack.
Israel targeted Jenin in July 2023, before the war in Gaza started. During that attack, Israel’s military killed 12 people and wounded nearly 100, one of the largest losses of life since an infamous military operation during the second intifada in 2002. During that attack, 52 Palestinians, half of whom were civilians, and 23 attacking Israeli soldiers were killed.
Both Amnesty and Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing war crimes during the 2002 attack.
Is this latest violence about the Gaza ceasefire?
Yes and no.
While the bulk of Israeli forces were captured in Gaza and Lebanon, Israeli settlers began the most violent year of attacks on record within the West Bank.
“The ceasefire was not enough for the Israelis,” Murad Jadalla of the rights group al-Haq said from Ramallah in the West Bank. “The hostage deal did not feel like the victory that they were promised,” he said, with obvious disappointment after the deaths of more than 47,000 people are now unfolding in the West Bank and Jenin.
Overall, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israeli residents faced at least 1,860 attacks between October 7, 2023 – the day of the Hamas-led attack on Israel – and December 31, 2024. Did it.
“This doesn’t look like a ceasefire,” Shai Parnes of the Israeli rights group B’Tselem told Al Jazeera. “Since Israel and Hamas announced an agreement for a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages and prisoners, Israel has intensified its violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.”
Parnes said: “Far from ceasing its fire against the Palestinians, Israel’s actions demonstrate that it has no intention of doing so. Instead, it is shifting its focus from Gaza to other areas under its control in the West Bank.
What are Israel’s plans for the West Bank?
Factors including the far-right structure of the Israeli government and the coming to power of the highly pro-Israel administration of United States President Donald Trump are indicating difficult times for the West Bank.
While Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, offered clear support for Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed 47,283 people so far, his administration expressed some concern over the unchecked violence carried out by settlers within the West Bank. Was, which was seen by the Biden administration. Ability to destabilize the field.
But Trump’s lifting of sanctions imposed on settlers by the Biden administration provided a possible early glimpse of what many on Israel’s far-right have hoped for — a more accommodative U.S. policy toward settlers’ ambitions for the West Bank. .
Within Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has found himself facing a revolt from the right, with ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir resigning from Netanyahu’s coalition Cabinet over the ceasefire agreement. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has made no secret of his ambition to annex the West Bank, remains in the government but has promised to resign if a Gaza ceasefire ends the war.
“Smotrich has more power and influence than ever before,” Jadallah said of the negotiations to keep Smotrich on the board.
Jadalla explained his views on initial steps toward a full Israeli annexation of the West Bank, saying, “Ultimately he wants to sideline the Israeli civilian administration and have the West Bank administered exclusively by settlers.” Wants to do.”
Evidence of that new approach toward the West Bank and its inhabitants was already evident before the ceasefire and Trump’s presidency.
On Friday, Katz announced that all remaining residents held in administrative detention would be released, a process for individuals detained indefinitely without charges. Administrative detention has largely been used for Palestinian detainees, although it was previously applied to some Israelis.
On releasing the settlers, Katz wrote in a statement that “the families of Jewish settlers released terrorists are It was better to be happy than to have families”. ,
