JERUSALEM Deadly military violence has increased in the West Bank Israel Prosecution of Palestinian terrorists after the attack of Hamas out of Gazawith at least 90 Palestinians killed in Israelioccupied areas in the last two weeks, mostly in clashes with Israeli troops.
The violence threatens to open another front in the war that has already been going on for two weeks and increases the pressure Palestinian authorityinternationally recognized, which manages parts of the West Bank and it is deeply unpopular among Palestinians, particularly because it cooperates with Israel on security issues.
People look at the destruction left by an Israeli army attack on the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, Friday, October 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
The count includes five Palestinians killed in separate incidents on Sunday two of whom died in one Air raid on a mosque in the unstable Jenin refugee camp, which Israel says is used by terrorists. Israel carried out an airstrike last week during a battle in another West Bank refugee camp, killing 13 Palestinians, including five minors, and a member of Israel’s paramilitary Border Police.
Although Israel has done so, it rarely uses air power in the occupied West Bank Gaza bombed ruled by Hamas since the terrorist group invaded the border on October 7th.
More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel since the war began, most of them civilians killed in Hamas’ initial attack. More than 4,300 Palestinians were killed, according to the Hamasrun health ministry in Gaza.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank says 90 Palestinians have been killed there since Oct. 7, a dramatic increase from the 197, according to an Associated Press count, from the start of the year until the Hamas attack.
In addition to the attacks, Palestinians have been killed in violent antiIsrael protests and, in some cases, in attacks by Jewish settlers.
Immediately after the Hamas attack, Israel used force against the area, closing border crossings and checkpoints between Palestinian cities. Israel says its forces have arrested more than 700 suspects in the West Bank since hostilities began, including 480 members of Hamas.
Clashes break out between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces after a demonstration in support of the Gaza Strip in the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, October 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
The resumption of Israel’s air strikes what in one The July operation in Jenin reached an unprecedented scale since the Palestinian uprising against Israel two decades ago suggests a change in military tactics.
The Israeli military has described AlAnsar Mosque in Jenin as a compound of the terrorist group Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a smaller and more radical Palestinian group. They say terrorists have carried out several attacks in recent months and are planning another attack imminently.
The worsening violence follows more than a year of escalating attacks and arrests in the West Bank and deadly attacks by Palestinians on Israelis.
Israel captured the West Bank as well as Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war. The Palestinians want all three areas for a future state. More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements across the West Bank that most of the international community considers illegal, while the territory’s more than 2.5 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule.
Palestinians see settlements as the biggest obstacle to resolving the conflict with Israel. The last serious and substantive peace negotiations failed about a decade ago.
Settler violence against Palestinians has also increased since the Hamas attack. Palestinian authorities say at least five Palestinians were killed by settlers, and human rights groups say settlers set fire to cars and attacked several small Bedouin communities, forcing them to evacuate to other areas.
The West Bank Protection Consortium, a coalition of nongovernmental organizations and donor countries including the European Union, says at least 470 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced due to settler violence in the West Bank since October 7. This is in addition to the more than 1,100 displaced people since 2022. / AP