In October alone, while global attention is focused on the ceasefire in Gaza, Israel has escalated its military operations across the West Bank, carrying out repeated raids and enabling a surge in settler violence and terror under a climate of total impunity, resulting in widespread property destruction, arrests and injuries of Palestinians.
This week, Israeli troops stormed the cities of Al-Bireh and Deir Abu Mash’al near Ramallah, arresting six individuals and assaulting residents during house raids. In Salfit, six others were detained after similar incursions in Deir Ballut and Bidya, where Israeli forces also attacked the family of a Fatah member. In Hebron, four Palestinians were arrested, while a 15-year-old boy was critically injured when a sound grenade struck his head, and a woman suffered severe tear gas inhalation.
In the Bethlehem Governorate, over the past week only, numerous raids, settler assaults, and acts of intimidation have targeted Palestinian communities in the villages of Tekoa, Al-Minya, Al-Obeyyat, Husan, and Al-Khader, reflecting a troubling normalization of this violence, reinforcing patterns of impunity and daily coercion against Palestinians. Documented incidents include:
- Al-Minya (27 October): Armed Israeli settlers attacked residents, set fire to a home, and assaulted several villagers, leaving injuries and property damage. Two days earlier, settlers slaughtered livestock with knives and injured several residents in the same area.
- Tekoa (25 October): Israeli forces raided multiple neighborhoods, triggering confrontations with residents. Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition and tear gas, and detained several children and youth.
- Al-Obeyyat (24 October): Israeli forces surrounded several homes in broad daylight under unclear circumstances, reportedly conducting surveillance without arrests or searches.
- Western Bethlehem villages, particularly Husan: Israeli forces continue to conduct daily violent incursions and arrests of Palestinian residents.
Moreover, armed Israeli settlers simultaneously closed main roads near Yatta and Al-Zuweidin, unleashed livestock onto Palestinian farmlands in Masafer Yatta, and damaged crops, while Israeli forces erected new checkpoints and sealed main routes with earth mounds and iron gates. Similar raids took place in Nablus, Tulkarem, and Jericho, where fifteen former detainees were held and beaten during field interrogations.
UNRWA reported that around 700 homes across the West Bank have been destroyed or severely damaged since the launch of Israel’s “Iron Wall” operation in January 2025, displacing approximately 32,000 Palestinians. These developments indicate an intensifying campaign of structural violence and forced displacement throughout the West Bank.
The continued impunity and normalization of daily incursions signal an alarming shift toward annexation of the territory through coercive displacement and administrative violence.This sequence of attacks, occurring within less than a week, reflects a concentrated campaign of intimidation and territorial control, aimed at eroding Palestinian presence.
The recent escalations in the West Bank constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL), which Israel is bound to as an Occupying Power. Israel’s systematic violations include: unlawful attacks on civilians and civilian property, collective punishment, destruction of property not justified by military necessity, acts of intimidation against protected populations, failure to protect civilians under occupation, failure to maintain public order and civil life, forced displacement and annexation.
Israel’s recent escalations in the oPt are compounded by the unlawfulness of its very presence in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), according to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion (July 2024) on the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and practices in the oPt, which reaffirmed the illegality of Israel’s prolonged occupation, settlement expansion, and de facto annexation of the occupied Palestinian lands. The Court found that Israel’s actions and policies in the oPt constitute serious breaches of international law, including the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. The ICJ further called on all States and the United Nations to refrain from recognizing or assisting the unlawful situation and to take effective measures to bring it to an end. This authoritative opinion underscores the systemic and ongoing violations in the oPt as not merely isolated incidents, but part of an illegal regime of occupation and annexation
In light of the ICJ’s findings, the international community must move beyond rhetorical condemnation and take concrete action to ensure compliance with international law. States should adopt targeted measures, including political, diplomatic, and economic sanctions, to end Israel’s illegal occupation and annexation practices, ensure accountability for its violations, and support the realization of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and sovereignty.