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Israeli army assault spreads in occupied West Bank
Israeli forces raided the Palestinian village of Kafil Haris as troops pushed further south in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports.
Israeli troops searched several homes but made no arrests during the latest incursion.
Kafil Haris is 6km (3.2 miles) west of the town of Salfit and 18km (8.2 miles) south of Nablus city, in the Salfit governorate.
Israel’s strategy unclear in assault on occupied West Bank
The monthlong incursion in the northern West Bank has been one of the biggest in decades, involving several brigades of Israeli troops backed by drones, helicopters and heavy battle tanks.
“There is a broad and ongoing evacuation of the population, mainly in the two refugee camps, Nur Shams, near to Tulkarem, and Jenin,” said Michael Milshtein, a former military intelligence official.
“I don’t know what the broad strategy is but there’s no doubt at all that we didn’t see such a step in the past,” said Milshtein, who now heads the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies.
‘Jenin is a repeat of what happened in Jabalia’
The Israeli army is setting up a base in the Jenin camp as it prepares for a long-term deployment in the occupied West Bank, an official says.
“Jenin is a repeat of what happened in Jabalia,” said Basheer Matahen, a spokesperson for the Jenin municipality, referring to the refugee camp in northern Gaza that was levelled by the Israeli army. “The camp has become uninhabitable.”
He said at least 12 bulldozers were at work demolishing houses and infrastructure in the camp, once a crowded township that housed descendants of Palestinians who fled their homes or were driven out in the 1948 war in what Palestinians call the ‘Nakba’ or catastrophe during the establishment of Israel.
Army engineering teams could be seen making preparations for a long-term stay, bringing water tanks and generators to a special area of almost 1 acre (0.4 hectares) in size, Matahen said.
Israeli army storms village in occupied West Bank
Israeli forces raided the village of Wadi al-Far’a, 6km (2.8 miles) south of Tubas, in the occupied West Bank’s northeast, the Wafa news agency reports.
Israeli troops entered the village from the Hamra checkpoint in military vehicles.
In a separate report, the Palestinian news agency said Israeli settlers installed surveillance cameras near the Palestinian communities of Ein al-Hilweh and al-Hamma, also in the Tubas governorate.
Israel accused of destroying homes so Palestinians leave West Bank
Palestinians say the real intention of Israel’s ongoing military attack on the Palestinian territory appears to be a large-scale, permanent displacement of the population by destroying homes and making it impossible for them to stay.
“Israel wants to erase the camps and the memory of the camps, morally and financially. They want to erase the name of refugees from the memory of the people,” said Jenin refugee camp resident Hassan al-Katib, 85.
Al-Katib lived in the camp with 20 children and grandchildren before abandoning his home and all his possessions during the monthlong Israeli incursion. An estimated 40,000 people have been forced from their homes in the occupied West Bank.
Explosion as Israeli forces target West Bank agriculture warehouse
Israeli forces have blown up an agricultural facility in Qabatiya town, south of Jenin, the Wafa news agency reports.
Citing local sources, Wafa said a loud explosion was heard, followed by columns of smoke rising from the Jabal al-Zakat area. No injuries were reported.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced across the West Bank since the Israeli military launched its heightened offensive last month. The operation began shortly after a Gaza ceasefire deal came into effect on January 19.
