In West Bank refugee camps, Israel wants to ‘get rid of the Palestinians’ – Analysis
Israel has not formally declared war on the occupied West Bank but has dramatically increased military operations against the populations of Palestinian towns, villages and refugees camps since the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
Amjad Abu El Ezz, of the Arab American University in Ramallah – in the occupied West Bank – said the Israeli plan to “get rid of Palestinians” is obvious and has been articulated by senior Israeli government ministers.
“So the dream of the far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s government is to solve the West Bank problem simply by getting rid of the Palestinians. Mainly in the refugee camps. We are talking about more than 20 refugee camps. Half a million Palestinians live in these refugee camps,” Abu El Ezz said.
UN Security Council meets on Israel’s West Bank attacks
The UN Security Council will meet for a second straight day on Palestine, this time focusing on Israel’s months-long assault on the occupied West Bank.
Thursday’s council meeting tackled the grim situation in war-battered Gaza. Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky criticised Israel’s leaders for not moving to phase two of the ceasefire deal, which calls for the release of all captives and a permanent end to the fighting.
He said it’s difficult to discuss the future when Israel’s military and political leaders appear to have made the choice in favour of war.
Britain’s deputy ambassador, James Kariuki, condemned Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz’s “warning of the total destruction of Gaza”.
Britain calls for the rapid resurgence of aid to Gaza, an investigation into allegations of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces, and an urgent return to the ceasefire deal, he said.
Rights group says Israeli forces stripped, ‘terrorised’ Palestinian boys aged 7, 13
A children’s rights group has accused Israeli forces of stripping, humiliating, terrorising and detaining two Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, after shooting and killing their grandmother.
Defence for Children – Palestine (DCIP) said Ibrahim Abu Ghali, 7, and Omar Mohammed Dirar Zaben, 13, were visiting their grandparents’ home on March 10, west of Jenin, when their grandmother was shot for going outside to listen for the morning call to prayer during an Israeli military raid.
Israeli soldiers then forced the two children to strip to their underwear at gunpoint, alongside their grandfather. Practically naked, the three had their hands bound with cable ties, and were held outdoors in the cold for about an hour before being pushed onto the floor or a military vehicle – still without clothes – and taken for interrogation.
“Forcing young children to strip, detaining them in degrading conditions, and subjecting them to psychological terror is a clear violation of international law and amounts to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment,” DCIP’s Ayed Abu Eqtaish said.
After nearly 12 hours of “arbitrary detention”, the children were put in the back of a military truck and taken home – still in their underwear – where they discovered their grandmother had been killed by the Israeli gunfire.
Israeli forces detained Ibrahim, 7, and Omar, 13, from their grandparents' home outside Jenin for about 12 hours. Once they were released, they learned Israeli soldiers killed their grandmother. https://t.co/2OHGzrhmNM
— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) March 20, 2025
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