Netanyahu approves new 'offensive and defensive' operations in occupied West Bank
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is carrying out a major operation against resistance fighters in the Jenin refugee camp on Israel's behalf
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced that he approved a series of additional military operations in the West Bank.
According to Netanyahu's office, these operations include “additional offensive and defensive measures” in the West Bank, as well as arresting perpetrators of operations against Israel and bringing them to justice.
The decision followed Netanyahu's meeting on 6 January with Defense Minister Israel Katz and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.
Earlier today, Netanyahu vowed to liquidate those responsible for killing three Jewish settlers in the West Bank earlier on Monday.
“We will reach the killers, settle our accounts with them and with those who helped them, and no one will escape from us,” Netanyahu stated.
Israel increased the size and number of its military operations against Palestinian resistance groups in the occupied West Bank after Hamas's Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023.
Israel's war in Gaza has killed over 45,000, the majority women and children.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is currently carrying out a major raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.
The Guardian notes it “is the largest operation the western-backed governing body has undertaken in the 30 years since it was formed.”
After a recent visit to Jenin, The Guardian observed that “Israel hopes it can delegate stamping out militant activity to the Ramallah-based authority, and the PA is seeking to prove it will be able to handle governing the Gaza Strip when the war there ends.”
However, residents of the camp are angry at the PA security forces for their collaboration with Israel against the local resistance fighters.
“Most of these young men are part of small, ad hoc militias only loosely affiliated with the traditional Palestinian factions, such as Fatah and its rival Hamas,” the UK paper added.
Mariam, a 23-year-old resident of the camp, stated, “This is basically a civil war, Palestinians killing Palestinians.”
Residents were further angered after a sniper from the PA security forces shot and killed 22-year-old journalism student Shatha al-Sabbagh on Saturday.
Amid the violence in Jenin, Israel's Jewish settlers are hoping that incoming US President Donald Trump will allow them to formally annex the occupied West Bank.
The New York Times (NYT) reported on Monday that “Some of President-elect Donald J. Trump's staffing choices have raised hopes among settlers that [annexation] could happen.”
Members of Trump's staff, including incoming Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, have visited the West Bank settlements and expressed their strong support for them and Israel.
“Trump's team was here, they saw the reality, and for me, that's a total relief,” said Israel Ganz, the head of a council governing the settlement of Shiloh.
Recently, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) reaffirmed that all Israeli Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law and must be dismantled.
Israeli forces occupied the West Bank in 1967 and have been building illegal settlements for Jewish Israelis on stolen Palestinian land since that time.