Silence of int’l community on Israel’s genocide in Gaza could allow it to occur in West Bank as well
Palestinian Territory – Israel’s massive military operation in the northern occupied West Bank is a part of the widespread and dangerous aggression that it has been waging against the Palestinian people for decades. The current Israeli violence in the West Bank also includes the violence of armed settler groups and an expansion of the ongoing genocide that has occurring in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023.
In the last few months, the West Bank-based Euro-Med Monitor field team has observed an increase in both the number and severity of the Israeli army’s killings and crimes of storming and destruction against Palestinians there. Members of the field team also note that Israel is allowing and supporting its settlers’ attacks and violent crimes against Palestinians in different parts of the West Bank, including crimes of murder, threats, and destruction of private and immovable property, as well as the destruction and theft of agricultural crops.
With the Israeli army’s recent announcement of the start of a massive military operation known as “Summer Camps” that targets the northern West Bank, the attacks have taken on an increasingly severe form. To date, the Israeli army has killed nine Palestinians and injured at least eighteen more during the “Summer Camps” operation, according to an initial toll. The operations have been concentrated in Jenin, Tubas, and Tulkarem.
Israeli violence in the West Bank includes violence of armed settler groups and an expansion of the ongoing genocide
Large numbers of Israeli occupation army forces stormed Jenin, breaking through Al-Jalameh military checkpoint. They surrounded the Jenin Government Hospital and the Ibn Sina Hospital, causing violent clashes that resulted in the deaths of two young men, Qassam Muhammad Jabarin (25 years old) and Asim Walid Dabaya (39 years old), as well as numerous injuries.
Three additional young men were killed when an Israeli drone bombed a car between the villages of Seir and Masiliya, south of Jenin. This attack is part of Israel’s return, since last October, to using warplanes, helicopters, and drones of all kinds to launch air raids on Palestinian homes, cars, and gatherings in the West Bank. No less than 47 raids have been carried out by Israel since October 2023, resulting in numerous Palestinian deaths and injuries.
In Tubas, the Euro-Med Monitor team documented an Israeli drone attack on a gathering of people in the Fara’a camp, south of the city. Israeli forces established a strict siege on the Fara'a camp and stopped ambulance services from accessing the targeted area. The Israeli attack resulted in the killing of four young Palestinians, including two children: Murad (13 years old; last name unknown), Muhammad Masoud Ja’aysah (17 years old), Ibrahim Abdul Qader Ghanimi (22 years old), and Ahmed Saleh Nabrisi (23 years old).
Immediately after entering the West Bank, the Israeli army began besieging hospitals, ambulances, and emergency centres, replicating its horrifying and systematic policy of breaching and taking control of health institutions that it has employed in the Gaza Strip.
Director of Jenin Government Hospital Dr Wissam Bakr stated that he received a notification from the Palestinian Liaison Office about the Israeli army’s intention to storm the hospital, which is now under siege.
Under heavy drone attacks, Israeli army forces stormed Tulkarem from its western axis, broke into in its neighbourhoods, and stationed infantry and sniper teams in the farms and forests that surround the camp.
In the Nour Shams camp, an Israeli drone bombed Al-Manshiya neighbourhood, injuring several Palestinians. Along with besieging Al-Israa Specialised Hospital in the western neighbourhood and the Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital, Israeli forces also stopped ambulances and seized one of them right in front of the Governmental Hospital before searching it.
In all areas it invaded, the Israeli army forces destroyed property, infrastructure, and streets. Simultaneously, with the storming of these areas, raid and arrest campaigns were carried out in most cities in the West Bank amidst gunfire that resulted in the injury of many Palestinians. Since last October, 660 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed as a result of the Israeli military’s systematic, large-scale, premeditated killings.
Israel is planning to carry out the crime of forced displacement in the West Bank, as it has against thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This is particularly evident in the public statements and incitements made by ministers within the Israeli government, such as Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who stated that Israel must treat the West Bank “just as we deal with the infrastructure in Gaza, including temporary evacuation of residents and any steps that may be required”.
According to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, “an organised evacuation of the Palestinian civilian population will be carried out according to the…combat centres” during the ongoing military operation. This is a clear indication of Israel’s intention to commit genocide against Palestinians in the West Bank, just as it has done against those in the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that between 7 October 2023 and 19 August 2024, Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated, or forced the demolition of 1,416 Palestinian structures across the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, displacing more than 3,200 Palestinians, including 1,400 children, which is more than double compared to the same period of time before 7 October 2023, which saw 1,299 Palestinians displaced, including 606 children.
The demolitions after last October include over 500 inhabited structures, 100 uninhabited residential structures, more than 300 agricultural structures, more than 100 water and sanitation (WASH) structures, 200 livelihood structures, and about 100 infrastructure and other structures. Some 28 incidents of demolition and destruction of infrastructure, mostly in Tulkarem and Jenin, constitute the majority of the targeted structures.
In its advisory opinion on 19 July 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s planning policy regarding Palestinian construction, particularly its practice of demolishing Palestinian property and homes differently than settlers’ property and homes and without justification, constitutes prohibited discrimination and violates Article 2, paragraph 1, and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Article 2, paragraph 2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; and Article 2 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. As a result, it represents one of Israel’s aspects of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
Without the cover and cooperation of the United States and some European countries, and amid near silence from the international community, Israel’s crime of genocide could not have occurred and escalated in the Gaza Strip and now be extended to the West Bank. The majority of the world’s nations must accept their responsibilities and take concrete action to protect Palestinian civilians, halt the mass killings, and stop the genocide from being completed.
As part of their international obligations, all nations must impose strong sanctions on Israel and halt all forms of military, political, and financial assistance. This includes immediately cutting off all arms transfers to Israel, including export permits and military aid; otherwise, these nations will be complicit in and partners in the Israeli crimes committed in the Gaza Strip, including the crime of genocide.
Since the crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip are international crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, it is imperative that the Court move forward with its investigation into all crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, plus broaden its investigation into individual criminal responsibility for these crimes, in order to hold all perpetrators accountable, and issue arrest warrants against them.
Along with putting an immediate stop to Israel’s illegal occupation and settler-colonisation of Palestinian land, including the Gaza Strip, the international community must also work to remove the apartheid regime that is currently imposed on all Palestinians; lift the illegal blockade that has been placed on the Gaza Strip and its inhabitants for 17 years now; and take decisive action to support the path of Palestinian liberation and Palestinians’ right to self-determination.