Israeli occupation forces launched a broad campaign of raids and arrests across the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, as the United States continues to regurgitate its stated commitment to preventing Israel from annexing any part of the territory.
Israeli forces detained eight Palestinians—including an elderly man—in Bethlehem after raiding and ransacking their homes. Another Palestinian was summoned for interrogation by Israeli intelligence, according to WAFA reports.
In Jenin, undercover Israeli units stormed the city’s eastern neighborhoods, later reinforced by military back-up. Troops turned one house into a makeshift military post and besieged another while subjecting multiple Palestinians to field interrogations, according to local sources.
Israeli soldiers also arrested two Palestinians in the Hebron district, including in the Al-Fawwar and Al-Arroub refugee camps and the town of Yatta, while storming and searching several homes.
In Nablus, occupation forces raided the Old City and Aqaba neighborhood, deploying heavily in the Ras al-Ein area. The incursion sparked confrontations during which Israeli troops fired live rounds and tear gas.
Ahmad Ameed, director of the Red Crescent’s emergency response in Nablus, said medics treated four Palestinians for gunshot wounds during the raid.
In Tulkarm, Israeli troops arrested four Palestinians, including three former detainees. More arrests were reported in the town of Ein Yabrud and Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah, as well as in Anata, northeast of Jerusalem. Authorities did not disclose the identities of those detained.
The wave of incursions coincided with remarks by Jennifer Locetta, alternative US representative to the UN, who repeated to the UN Security Council Tuesday evening that “the United States will not allow the annexation of the West Bank.”
Locetta said Washington expects an end to violence in the occupied territory, adding, “remains focused on keeping Israel secure and Gaza and the West Bank stable.”
Back in September, Trump had told Arab and Muslim leaders that the US would block Israel from annexing the West Bank. His peace initiative—which includes a ceasefire agreement in Gaza—is still stuck in its first phase, with Israel refusing to proceed until all captives, dead and alive, held by Palestinian resistance are returned.
Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza had released all living captives at the beginning of the ceasefire, and slowly recovered captive remains. Only one Israeli prisoner of war's body remains unaccounted for.
At the same UN session, UN Assistant Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Ramiz Alakbarov condemned Israel’s expanding settlement enterprise, which he said has reached record levels since UN monitoring began in 2017.
In late November, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency reported that Israel had emptied the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nour Shams as part of its ten-month-old military operation known as “Iron Wall,” forcibly displacing some 32,000 Palestinians.
The campaign began on Jan. 21, when Israeli forces invaded Jenin refugee camp—home to more than 20,000 Palestinians—followed by a similar assault on Tulkarm camp, which houses about 15,000 people, on January 27.
In July, the Israeli Knesset passed legislation to “apply Israeli sovereignty” over the West Bank by a vote of 71 to 13. The law declares the West Bank and Jordan Valley “an inseparable part of the historical homeland of the Jewish people,” and urges strategic steps to entrench what it calls a “historic right” and enhance national security.
Last week, Israel's Ministry of Defense announced it had begun constructing a 500-kilometer wall along the Jordanian border, stretching from the southern occupied Golan Heights to northern Eilat—a move widely viewed as part of a broader strategy to encircle and annex the occupied West Bank.
