Confrontations broke out early Tuesday in cities, towns, and refugee camps across the occupied West Bank, following new Israeli military raids.
Al-Jazeera reported that the Israeli army stormed, before dawn on Tuesday, the city of Ramallah from its western axis and raided the home of Palestinian prisoner Aysar Barghouti, in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood. Israeli forces also reportedly stormed the nearby town of Beit Sira.
In the eastern West Bank, Israeli occupation forces invaded the Ain Sultan camp in the city of Jericho before dawn and surrounded a house inside it, according to Al-Jazeera.
Eyewitnesses reported that Palestinian youths targeted the invading forces with a homemade device during confrontations in the camp.
The occupation forces continue to storm Ain Sultan camp in Jericho, in Occupied Palestine pic.twitter.com/byzCwSfkLy
— Dr. Zain Abbadi (@ZainAbbadi11) January 16, 2024
In the northern West Bank, Israeli forces stormed the city of Nablus and the adjacent Askar camp, damaged the streets, and arrested the freed prisoner Atta Al-Rimawi while he was passing through the Huwwara checkpoint.
Footage circulating on social media showed an Israeli military vehicle being targeted with a highly explosive explosive device in the eastern region of Nablus.
Confrontations also broke out between Palestinians and the Israeli occupation forces in the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus.
Moreover, the Israeli army detained a Palestinian during its storming of the town of Jalboun in Jenin, and the freed prisoner Mohsen Shreim was arrested during a new storming of the city of Qalqilya.
Near Tulkarm, a young Palestinian man was seriously injured by Israeli army gunfire in the town of Qaffin, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, while clashes broke out in the town of Anabta, east of the city.
In the southern West Bank, the raids included areas in Hebron (Al-Khalil).
Israeli Forces Kill Three Palestinians, including Child, in Occupied West Bank
Since October, Israeli attacks in the West Bank have escalated, resulting in the killing of over 350 Palestinians and the arrest of more than 5,000 more.
On the Brink of Implosion
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted Israeli security officials as saying that the situation in the West Bank is “on the brink of implosion”.
The newspaper also reported that the Israeli army moved the ‘Duvdevan’ unit from Gaza to the occupied West Bank in anticipation of a serious escalation.
Israeli Occupation Forces Storm Cities, Raid Hospitals in West Bank
“The (Israeli) army’s latest situation assessment concluded that there was a real danger of a violent outbreak in the West Bank,” the report stated, noting that “the West Bank is where the unit normally operates, but after the war began, all the unit’s regular soldiers and most of its reservists were diverted to Gaza”.
(PC, AJA)
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, is a common saying, and quite true. Among the things it corrupts are things like the quality of one’s military, and it was in the occupied Galilee and the border region, that the IDF first corrupted itself. (Of course, Israel says Galilee isn’t occupied now, and they are citizens, but the same style of law that keeps the West Bank unable to build new buildings for new families also works in Galilee. So the IDF moves one unit from Gaza to the West Bank, and expects that which doesn’t work in Gaza to work in the West Bank. Hope springs eternal in the Israeli mind, but lacks critical self-reflection to make it wisdom.