The security situation in the occupied West Bank is “extremely unstable and very dangerous”, senior Israeli military officials told the “Jerusalem Post” today, and indicated that, against the backdrop of growing tensions, a decision was made yesterday to send additional military forces to the area.
A total of 26 battalions are currently operating in the sector. A security official said that tensions “are growing like a snowball rolling down a slope” and warned that containing it would be difficult.
According to the assessment of the security forces, the large-scale operation against “terrorist infrastructure and incitement to violence“ will likely be postponed until the end of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the United States, which begins today.
The aim is to avoid a scenario in which the Palestinian issue dominates his meeting with US President Donald Trump instead of the main topics on the agenda of the Israeli security services - Iran, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
The incident near the Israeli outpost “Gilad Farm“, in which, according to Israeli forces, Israeli tourists were attacked and one person was killed, led to a rise in tension.
It was followed by numerous clashes between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as a series of attacks in the West Bank. In one of them, a company commander and a member of a local security unit were killed, and an off-duty Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier was moderately wounded.
The IDF Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, ordered commanders to prevent incidents that could further escalate tensions.
Despite these instructions, security services have failed to prevent several alleged nationalist-motivated crimes in the past 48 hours, including arson attacks on two mosques, buildings and cars.
This night, Israeli settlers attacked the village of Beita, south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian sources reported, quoted by the „Times of Israel“.
According to Palestinian media, a group of extremist settlers invaded the the village's industrial area and set fire to trucks parked near a local factory.
The chairman of the local council of the Palestinian village of Qusra, southeast of Nablus, Abdel Azim Wadi, told “Al Jazeera“ that early yesterday morning, Israeli settlers set fire to the local mosque.
According to him, the attackers wrote Hebrew inscriptions on the walls, including “Jewish revenge“ and the name of one of the two Israelis who died earlier near the village of Tel.
“The village has been subject to such attacks since 2011, and after the start of the war in Gaza, they have intensified“, Wadi said.
Palestinian officials also reported a second attack on a mosque in the area of another village, southeast of Tulkarem. Local council representative Farid Jiyousi said three settlers attempted to set fire to the mosque at dawn, but worshippers present managed to put out the fire before it spread to the main part of the building. He said the attackers also left Hebrew writings on the walls of the mosque.
A security camera video was also shared on social media showing Israeli settlers setting fire to a Palestinian house in the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus, and then leaving the scene, Al Jazeera reported. Palestinian residents managed to contain the fire and limit the damage.
Jewish settlers have also built three new outposts on Palestinian-owned land in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian news agency WAF reported.
According to local sources, dozens of settlers have pitched a tent and brought water tanks and storage containers to the Tell al-Assur area, between the towns of al-Mughair and Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah.
Earlier in the day, settlers built two more new outposts on land belonging to the towns of Deir Istiya, north of Salfit, and Umm Safa, northwest of Ramallah.
Despite calls from the Israeli army, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a cabinet meeting yesterday that the IDF is ready to expand its operations against “terrorist hotbeds“ in the occupied West Bank.
“In addition to the operations that are already underway, similar actions are being considered in other places, once the areas where terrorist activity is being organized and where we need to strike to disrupt it and prevent its continuation are identified“, Defense Minister Israel Katz said during the regular weekly meeting of the Israeli government, quoted by the “Times of Israel“.
Over the weekend, Israeli forces carried out operations in Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank, including searches, on-site interrogations and arrests.
According to a source who attended the government meeting, some ministers have demanded an escalation of the military response and a change in the army's rules of engagement.
On Friday, Netanyahu and Katz announced that they had also ordered an acceleration of the procedure for legalizing farms and settlement posts in the West Bank and the creation of new ones after the recent clashes near Nablus, reported Haaretz.
After a meeting of the narrow security cabinet, the two also announced that they had ordered the demolition of the home of a Palestinian accused of killing Israeli Benayahu Melet, as well as the conduct of an "intensive operation" in Palestinian settlements that Israel considers centers of armed activity.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said after the incident that Palestinian homes and villages in the West Bank should share "the same fate" as Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip, much of which was destroyed during the military operations. He said he would insist that the army demolish the homes of "terrorists and their supporters" through airstrikes and bulldozers.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the international community to take urgent action to end the ongoing Israeli operations in the occupied West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, the Qatar News Agency reported.
According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Abbas has sent letters to world leaders, the EU, the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States and the President of the UN Security Council, warning of a serious escalation in the occupied Palestinian territories due to the ongoing actions of the Israeli army and Jewish settlers.
The letters state that the attacks have killed and injured hundreds of civilians, caused significant material damage, set fire to homes, religious sites, trees and agricultural areas, and targeted Palestinian villages and settlements.
According to Abbas, what is happening is no longer a series of isolated acts of violence, and is part of a systematic Israeli policy to impose new realities on the ground by expanding settlement activity, intensifying settler violence and weakening the institutions of the Palestinian Authority.
The Palestinian leader stated in his letter that this policy purposefully undermines the prospects for a two-state solution to the conflict and threatens regional security and stability.
Abbas called on the international community to fulfill its legal and moral obligations by taking concrete and immediate measures to pressure the Israeli government to end settler attacks, hold those responsible accountable, halt all settlement activity and implement relevant UN Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 2334, which defines Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as illegal under international law.
He also called for international protection for the Palestinian population and called on the international community to ensure that Israel as an occupying power, it is fulfilling its obligations under international law and international humanitarian law.
Spain was among the first countries to condemn the ongoing violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and called on Israel to take the necessary measures to reduce tensions.
“The Government of Spain reiterates its categorical condemnation of the ongoing violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers, who continue to attack the Palestinian population in the West Bank with impunity,“ the Spanish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Madrid called on the Israeli government to take the necessary steps to de-escalate the situation and ensure that the perpetrators of the attacks are held accountable.
According to UN and Palestinian Authority figures, which Israel has not denied, the wave of violence between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank this year has led to the deaths of dozens of Palestinians and the injury of hundreds, analyst Dan Perry told the “Forward” - the leading Jewish publication in the United States.
This is a “deep moral and political crisis for Israel“, and the footage of the attacks should cause alarm because it shows a problem that has been deepening for years, the publication notes.
Violence by Jewish extremists in the West Bank can no longer be viewed as a series of isolated attacks, but has become a sustained phenomenon, including arson of religious sites, attacks on civilians, destruction of homes and farmland, as well as organized actions to intimidate entire Palestinian communities, Perry noted.
He pointed out that during the recent unrest, the Israeli police reported only two arrests, which does not represent a real campaign to limit the violence. So far, there are no known convictions for the murders of Palestinians committed by radical settlers, the analyst added.