Israeli tanks operated on February 23, 2025 in Israeli Operation Israeli Operation in the West Bank.
Raneen Sawafta | Reuters
Israeli tanks have moved into the occupied West Bank for the first time since 2002, after the Defense Minister said troops would be in certain areas of the territory “in the coming year” and said they fled Palestine People cannot return.
A reporter from the Associated Press saw several tanks moved into Jenning on Sunday, a bastion of an armed struggle against Israel.
Israel is deepening its suppression of the Palestinian territory and has expressed its determination to phase out the armed forces amid the increase in attacks. It launched an offensive on the northern West Bank on January 21, two days after the current ceasefire in Gaza and expanded it to nearby areas.
Palestinians see this raid as part of Israel’s efforts to consolidate Israel’s efforts toward the territory. The fatal attack caused damage in urban areas.
Israeli Defense Minister Katz says he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Order the military to “increase the intensity of activities to thwart terrorism” in all refugee camps in the West Bank.
“We will not allow residents to return, we will not allow terrorism to return and grow,” he said.
Katz said earlier that he had instructed the military to prepare for some urban refugee camps in the West Bank and prepare for “long-term accommodation”, saying about 40,000 Palestinians fled, leaving the areas “empty”. Residents cleared”. The United Nations confirmed this number.
These camps were homes for descendants of Palestinians during the war with Israel decades ago.
It is not clear how long the Palestinians will be unable to return. Netanyahu said Israeli forces will be “keep as needed for a long time”.
Tanks were last deployed on the territory in 2002 when Israel fought the deadly Palestinian uprising.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called Israel’s actions a “risk escalation of the West Bank situation” and urged the international community to intervene in a statement to intervene in Israel’s illegal “aggression.”
Netanyahu under pressure
Under the provisional peace agreement in the early 1990s, Israel maintained control over much of the West Bank, while the Palestinian authorities managed other areas. Israel regularly sends its troops to the Palestinian region, but they are usually withdrawn once the mission is completed.
The United Nations said the current Israeli military operation is the longest since the Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s.
All Israel-Hamas War Gaza, violence in the West Bank swept. Israel launched its attacks, but as Gaza and Lebanon battled, Netanyahu had been under pressure from the far-right ruling partners to strike militants in the West Bank.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza War on October 7, 2023, more than 800 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank. Israel said most were militants, but the irritating young people fighting the invasion and those who did not participate in the confrontation were also killed. In recent operations, a pregnant Palestinian woman was killed.
Jewish settlers also rush around the Palestinian region of the territory. Palestinian attacks on the West Bank also surged. The explosion shocked three empty buses in Israel on Thursday, which police believed was a radical attack.
Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East War. Palestinians want all three territories to be their future independent state.
The second phase of the U.S. envoy’s pursuit of ceasefire
The West Bank raids were carried out at sensitive moments, as the truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza remained fragile.
With one week left in the first phase of the ceasefire, Israel and Hamas do not appear to have negotiated on its second phase. The collapse of the truce could lead to a renewed fight in Gaza, Netanyahu said 63 people remained, including the remains of a soldier arrested in 2014.
Steve Witkoff, the U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East, told CNN on Sunday that he hopes the second phase will continue, adding: “We have to extend the first phase, so I’m going to enter the region this week, probably It’s Wednesday, negotiating this.” He told CBS that he will visit Qatar, Egypt, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Israel said earlier Sunday it would postpone the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners until it guaranteed Hamas to stop the “humiliation” handover of Israel’s so-called hostages.
620 prisoners should be released shortly after the release of six Israeli hostages on Saturday, five of whom are on the stage of brutal criticism from the United States and the Red Cross.
Palestinian family members were upset. “What did the prisoners do? We don’t know what happened. They killed our joy,” said Najah Zaqqot, a mother.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu faces new criticism of the war when he graduated from the military. When he lifted up photos of Shiri Bibas and her little boys Ariel and Kfir, their remains were returned to Gaza last week to show “we are fighting against” we are fighting against, “the audience members will all be” shame! “It is called “shame!” ” and “Why don’t you save them? “The Prime Minister did not respond.
