Life for Palestinians in West Bank since Gaza ceasefire has been ‘horror and devastation’
We’ve spoken to Milena Ansari, an Israel-Palestine researcher for Human Rights Watch, about the current situation in the occupied West Bank.
Here’s what she said from occupied East Jerusalem: “We’ve been ringing the alarms and bringing attention to the West Bank because the repression was already at a peak, but lately, we were seeing more of an increase.
“Israeli forces have been using air strikes and drones and launching missiles to kill dozens of Palestinians, including children, in the West Bank. In the last 13 days alone of 2025, nine Palestinians were killed, including four children, by Israeli forces, and five of them were killed by air strikes.
“Just a few days ago, a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. And just today, the Israeli military announced an operation called ‘Iron Wall’ in the Jenin refugee camp, and this does represent a seriously worrying risk of escalation with regards to use of force and mass atrocities in the West Bank.
“The daily life for Palestinians on the ground the past two days and since the announcement of the ceasefire has been horror and devastation. We’ve seen massive severe movement restrictions across the West Bank between communities, cities and villages.
“In Bethlehem alone, more than 89 gates, barriers and concrete blocks have blocked movement in and out of the city. And this directly impacts the ability of people to go to their homes, schools, universities and movement in general.
“For two consecutive days and nights, Israeli settlers have attacked villages and towns across the West Bank. They’ve been setting fires using Molotov cocktails at homes and vehicles of Palestinians, causing damage to property and injuring dozens of Palestinians.
“Even on highways, settlers have been throwing stones at vehicles, so even movement on a daily basis for Palestinians in the West Bank is a matter of really calculating and examining whether it’s safe to go home or to school.
“Last night alone, settlers entered the village of Funduq and burned vehicles and homes and Palestinian residences.
“Just so we’re clear, the Israeli government is the responsible authority here as they have approved and funded the growth of illegal settlements across the West Bank. And they have also enabled settler violence against Palestinians, including by providing settlers with weapons and arms.
“In many of the cases we’re seeing of attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli forces are either actively assisting in the attacks or are just standing by, providing protection to the settlers instead of stopping these attacks against Palestinians.”
Israeli army says Jenin operation ‘significant'
The Israeli army has said it is carrying out a significant operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
It has even been given a name, “Operation Iron Walls”, according to a memo from the Israeli prime minister’s office. They say they want to crack down on armed Palestinian resistance in the city, this is something they’ve been trying to do for several years.
Notably, the Israeli army chief of staff just 24 hours ago had said that the military must prepare for significant operations across the West Bank.
So while the ceasefire was called in Gaza, this is what the focus was on within the Israeli security realm. And it’s something Israel’s defence minister has been touting for a couple of weeks saying that there is going to be a significant army presence across the West Bank and the are going to do things different than what they were doing before.
This is a little bit difficult to believe because there has been a siege on the occupied West Bank the entire time the war on Gaza has been happening.
A Palestinian woman looks out from the top of her house to the destruction in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank on April 28, 2002, after an Israeli raid
Fast facts: Jenin refugee camp
Here is a bit of background on the camp:
- In the aftermath of the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians during the creation of Israel in 1948, some refugees settled in what is now known as the Jenin refugee camp, where an estimated 14,000 people live.
- The original camp was destroyed in a snowstorm, and the current camp was established in 1953.
- During the first Intifada from 1987 to 1993, Israeli soldiers regularly raided the camp in search of armed Palestinians.
- More than 400 houses were destroyed and hundreds were severely damaged. More than a quarter of the camp’s population was displaced.
- In 2022, Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by an Israeli military sniper in Jenin while reporting on an Israeli raid.
- Since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, Israeli forces have launched regular deadly raids on the camp.
As fighting in Gaza stops, Israel launches major military campaign in West Bank
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/middleeast/israel-west-bank-operation-intl/index.html
The Israeli military killed at least seven Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday as the prime minister announced the start of a “large-scale military operation” in the restive city of Jenin.
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New ‘war goal’
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right nationalist who opposed the Gaza ceasefire, said in a statement Tuesday that security in the West Bank had been added to the country’s “war goals.” CNN has asked the Prime Minister’s Office for confirmation of that claim.
“After Gaza and Lebanon, today, with God’s help, we have begun to change the security concept in Judea and Samaria and in the campaign to eradicate terrorism in the region,” he said, using the biblical name by which Israelis refer to the West Bank.
Smotrich had publicly toyed with quitting the Israeli government over the Gaza ceasefire, but decided to stay in the cabinet after saying he had received assurances from Netanyahu on his commitment to continue Israel’s military operations.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health, which reported the casualties, said that 35 people injured as a result of the Israeli operation were transferred to several hospitals in the city.
A day before the operation was launched, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said the military “must be ready for significant operations” in the West Bank.
Israeli troops and settlers had killed 851 Palestinian in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem since Hamas’ October 7 attack, including 173 children. Meanwhile, 2024 was the third-deadliest year for Israelis in the West Bank since data collection began in 2008, according to the UN, which recorded the deaths of 34 Israelis – 15 soldiers and 19 civilians. Of those civilians, seven were settlers.
