Israeli occupation forces carried out arrests and raids across the occupied West Bank as Bezalel Smotrich pledged an expanded campaign of Judaization.
Key Takeaways
- Israeli occupation forces arrested Palestinians, including a father and his child son, during overnight raids across Nablus, Jenin and Hebron (Al-Khalil).
- Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel would pursue its “Judaization” policies in the Galilee and Negev “three times over” compared with the occupied West Bank.
- Smotrich’s plans include 40 new communities in the Galilee and Negev, while Israeli authorities continue demolitions and settlement expansion across the occupied West Bank.
Arrests and Raids across West Bank
Israeli occupation forces launched a new wave of overnight raids across the occupied West Bank on Friday, arresting Palestinians and firing tear gas during confrontations.
In Nablus Governorate, Israeli occupation forces detained four Palestinians after raiding and searching their homes, according to Quds News Network.
They included Abdul Rahman Abu Dhahir from Nablus, Karim Abdul Munim Ramadan from Tell, and Saed Deeb and his son Turki from Deir Sharaf, west of the city. Israeli forces also raided Beita, Awarta, Sarra and Tell.
In Jenin Governorate, occupation forces stormed Fahma, southwest of Jenin, where they arrested a young Palestinian man and two women. Raids were also reported in Arraba and the Al-Saada forest area.
Breaking | Armed Israeli settlers and army personnel abduct several Palestinian farmers while trying to access their own lands near the town of Halhoul, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. Peace activists were also assaulted. pic.twitter.com/B4I6NDJmtY
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) September 18, 2026
Israeli occupation forces entered Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah, where confrontations erupted, and troops fired tear gas.
Additional incursions were reported in Umm al-Sharayet in Al-Bireh and Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem.
In Hebron (Al-Khalil), Israeli occupation forces arrested Ahmed Fawaz al-Rajabi and Fahd Ahmed Ahrizat, the latter from Khirbet Umm Namila east of Yatta. Soldiers searched Ahrizat’s home and damaged its contents, according to local sources.
Palestinian human rights organizations documented 630 arrests across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in July alone, according to QNN. They put the number of arrests since October 2023 at more than 25,000.
‘Three Times Over’ in Galilee and Negev
The raids came as Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich publicly pledged to expand what he called the “Judaization” of the Galilee in northern Israel and the Negev in the south.
Responding Thursday to an Al-Jazeera report about Israeli policies in the Galilee, Smotrich wrote on X: “What we did in Judea and Samaria will be done three times over in the Negev and the Galilee.”
Smotrich uses the biblical terms “Judea and Samaria” to refer to the occupied West Bank. His statement followed remarks attributed to him that Israel would “Judaize the Galilee as we did Judea and Samaria” during the next government’s term.
On August 28, Smotrich announced plans aimed at bringing one million additional Jewish residents to the Galilee and Negev, following what he described as a “settlement revolution” in the occupied West Bank.
The plan calls for establishing 20 new communities in the Galilee and another 20 in the Negev, alongside dozens of farms, measures to encourage migration to areas designated as strategically important and the removal of planning restrictions.
Israeli occupation soldiers abduct a Palestinian man during a raid into his home in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/3jJnlDa29S
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) September 18, 2026
Smotrich Boasts of West Bank Settlement Expansion
A day before his latest remarks, Smotrich highlighted the Netanyahu government’s expansion of illegal Israeli Jewish settlements and demolition of Palestinian structures in the occupied West Bank.
He said the government had spent four years expanding settlements and “removing threats on an unprecedented scale.”
Smotrich cited the removal of dozens of Palestinian structures around Israeli settlements in different parts of the occupied territory.
According to figures from the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission cited by Anadolu, Israeli authorities carried out 71 demolition operations during August, affecting 155 Palestinian structures.
These included 47 inhabited homes, eight uninhabited houses, 33 structures used as sources of livelihood, 61 agricultural structures and six other buildings. Another 44 demolition notices were issued during the month.
Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967. Israeli settlements in the occupied territory are considered illegal under international law.
(PC, QNN, AA)
Smotrich and all the other ZioNazis are the scum of the Earth. Inbred, fake Jews. Death is too good for them. They should be bound by zip-ties and left in Gaza so the people can do whatever they want to them.
Mussolini’d in public; hung from telephone poles as a visual reminder of all they’ve done.
I honestly think this genocide is going to be the nail in the coffin for judaism, along with christianity. Like, major jewish and christian establishments in the west have continuously demonstrated that they support genocide, which is kind of a black mark against the religions as a whole. Ah well, a secular world is a better world….