Israeli Forces Intensify Raids in Northern West Bank, Storm Qalqilya at Dawn

Israeli Forces Intensify Raids in Northern West Bank

Israeli forces stepped up operations across the northern occupied West Bank on Thursday, mounting a dawn assault on the eastern approach to Qalqilya and sending troops into multiple neighbourhoods. Local sources said soldiers established a tight cordon around the Kafr Saba area and conducted house-to-house searches.

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, troops raided homes including properties belonging to families of Palestinians who have been detained or previously killed by Israeli forces. One house searched belonged to the family of Muhammad Barahmeh, who was shot dead by Israeli forces last year.

Wafa reported that the army converted one home into a temporary interrogation site and detained several young men there for questioning. Palestinian sources said at least two people were arrested in Qalqilya, with an additional 11 Palestinians detained in related raids on Thursday in Ramallah, Hebron, Jenin and Nablus.

Violence has increased across several towns in the northern West Bank over the past week following a new Israeli military operation that began in late November in Tubas and Tammun. The campaign was later extended to Qabatiya and Masliya, and has included curfews, raids, widespread arrests and substantial damage to local infrastructure.

Israeli military statement: The army says the operations aim to arrest Palestinian fighters responsible for attacks.

Critics and some Palestinian officials say the raids have intensified since Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in October 2023 — a conflict that some observers and organisations have described in highly critical terms. The raids have disrupted daily life in the West Bank and, according to Palestinian groups, forced tens of thousands from their homes.

Local Palestinian officials, including Tubas Governor Ahmed Asaad, say the recent escalation is aimed at imposing "new realities" in and around the Jordan Valley, the strip of territory that borders Jordan along the West Bank’s eastern edge.

Senior Israeli politicians and right-wing settler groups continue to press for expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank, particularly in the Jordan Valley. Observers argue that settlement expansion tightens Israeli control and could pave the way for de facto annexation, undermining prospects for a viable Palestinian state.

In June 2024, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave increased authority over aspects of the territory to far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in a settlement. After the UN adopted a nonbinding resolution endorsing a two-state solution in September, Smotrich wrote on social media that "Israel must apply sovereignty [to the West Bank] as a preventive measure against the reckless attempt to establish a terror state in the heart of our land."

Rights groups and international monitors report a rise in attacks by the Israeli military and settler groups since the Gaza war began. UN figures show more than 1,000 Palestinians killed and nearly 10,000 injured in incidents across the occupied West Bank since October 2023, while Palestinian rights groups report that Israel has arrested more than 18,000 people during the same period.