The Israeli army withdrew early Tuesday from Qabatiya, a town near Jenin city in the northern occupied West Bank, leaving homes and shops destroyed and infrastructure damaged in their wake. Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the army forces completely evacuated Qabatiya after arresting several people and destroying shops and infrastructure.
Tensions are rising in the occupied West Bank after Israel sent more troops and, for the first time in more than two decades, tanks into the Palestinian territory.
The Israeli military this weekend deployed tanks to the occupied West Bank for the first time in two decades. In the background of a Gaza ceasefire, Israel has steadily escalated an intense military operation in Palestinian cities in the West Bank,
Analysts say Israel's West Bank assault and settlement expansion signal a deliberate effort to erase Palestinian identity and establish absolute control through annexation and forced displacement
The Israeli army staged a new military raid in the West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday, hours after withdrawing from the area, witnesses said. Clashes erupted between angry Palestinian residents and Israeli forces, which fired tear gas canisters to disperse protesters, they added.
A major military campaign by Palestinian Authority security forces against militants in the West Bank revealed serious challenges to efforts at imposing order.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday he has instructed the military to prepare to remain in some of the occupied West Bank’s urban refugee camps “for the coming year.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army to step up its operations in the occupied West Bank on Friday as he paid a rare visit to troops in the territory that drew Palestinian condemnation.