Israel expands West Bank attacks and clears refugee camps

Israeli forces have expelled residents from refugee camps in Samaria, north of the West Bank, as part of a reinforced operation against Palestinian terrorist groups.

This said in a statement on February 23, Israeli Defense Minister Katz ordered the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to expand operations in refugee camps in Jenin, Talkalem and Nur Al-Sham. On the same day, the IDF sent tanks to the West Bank for the first time in over 20 years.

The IDF is instructed to prepare for a “long-term stay” to fight terrorist groups in the camp.

At least 40,000 Palestinians are leaving their homes in Jenin and Talcarem IDF operation It’s begun.

“We do not allow residents to return, and we do not allow terrorism to return and grow,” Katz said.

The IDF has been carrying out large military operations in the area since January 21st, destroying homes and infrastructure.

Bus explosion

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the military to carry out a “intensive” operation after several explosions on a bus near Tel Aviv on February 20th.

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All bombs were marked as “revenge from Talcarem,” but Hamas’ “Talcarem Battalion” praised the bombing, which did not trust it. Police said the design of the bomb attached to the stopwatch proposed to be manufactured on the West Bank.

Bulldozers destroy camps

Israeli bulldozers have destroyed a large area of ​​the Jenin refugee camp. They appear to be carving the wide road through it, reflecting the tactics already employed in Gaza to prepare the military for long-term stays.

Jenin spokesman Bashir Matahen called it “a repetition of what happened in Jabaria,” referring to the liquidation of IDFs in refugee camps in the northern Gaza region after weeks of intense battles.

Katz said the camp will be cleaned “next year” and residents will not be allowed to return.

The operation targeted Hamas and Islamic jihad, Iranian-backed terrorist groups that had been entrenched in camps for decades. Palestinian authorities also fought the group in December to reaffirm control over areas within parts of the occupied territory controlled by the authorities.

However, authorities have denounced the recent tank deployment as “a dangerous Israeli escalation that does not become stable or mild,” according to Nabil Abu Rudain, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The lawsuit calls for President Donald Trump’s February 4 relocation of Gazan residents and suggests that the US occupy, clearly and redevelop the Gaza Strip as a multinational city.

Although the concept of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza has long been supported by international support, on October 7, 2023, the attack and subsequent war seemed increasingly unlikely.

Trump’s plan resumed discussions on alternatives, including the relocation of Palestine, after decades of cyclical violence.

He called it the biggest operation IDF has ever attempted in the region. Many of the destroyed homes contained weapons and IEDs, he said.

“What’s interesting is that everyday life continues, one block away from the town of Jenin and Talcarem, undestroyed,” he said. In the past, Palestinian residents of those cities will hit when Israeli security forces fought in the camps, he said.

Now he said, they “ignoring it completely and realising that these refugee camps are putting them at risk.”

Many of the evacuated civilians fled to the city, he said.

Abibi said the camp that grew into the town of Debakut should be demolished forever. The world had to view its inhabitants as “refugees,” he said, several generations excluded from generations from those who were refugees during Israel’s 1948 war of independence.

Israel absorbed 700,000 Jews who were expelled from Arab lands, but the fleeing Palestinians were similarly unconsolidated in the surrounding Arab lands, and instead were confined to camps.

“We need to close these so-called refugee camps, but it’s not actually a refugee camp. If you’re already a second, third or fourth generation refugee, you can’t become a refugee,” Abibi said.

Katz said Unrwa, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, was told to stop activities at the camp. Last month, Israel officially banned UNRWA from its own territory, including East Jerusalem. Israel has long accused him of being an accomplice with Hamas. Last year, the agency reported that nine employees were actively involved in the attack on Israel on October 7th.

Until now, institutional operations in Gaza and the West Bank have not been affected.

Abibi said Iranian terrocell was behind the bombing of the bus.

Iran tried to compensate by strengthening the conflict in one arena, which is still available, by strengthening its conflict in one arena, he said, despite its proxies Hezbollah and Hamas being defeated in Lebanon and Gaza and losing influence in Syria due to the collapse of the Assad regime.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to the report.