Whereas international consideration stays mounted on Israel’s battle on Gaza, Israel is quickly redrawing the map of the occupied West Financial institution.
On January 21, simply two days after a ceasefire took impact in Gaza, the Israeli army intensified its assault throughout the occupied West Financial institution, significantly within the northern areas. Israeli bulldozers have razed total residential areas, forcibly expelling at the very least 40,000 folks from their properties.
For the primary time for the reason that second Intifada, Israeli forces have reintroduced tank incursions and air assaults into the West Financial institution, a part of a scientific Israeli technique to alter the geography of the West Financial institution, paving the best way for full annexation.
This report, produced by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking company, SANAD, attracts on United Nations knowledge, satellite tv for pc imagery, and maps to disclose how that is occurring.
The occupied West Financial institution at a look
The West Financial institution, referred to as al-Daffah in Arabic, is west of the Jordan River, from which it will get its identify.
Along with occupied East Jerusalem, it covers an space of 5,655sq km (2,183sq miles), making it about 15 instances bigger than Gaza or roughly the identical measurement because the US state of Delaware.
Since 1967, Israel has militarily occupied the West Financial institutionsubjecting Palestinians to checkpointsarbitrary arrests, residence demolitionsland seizures, settlement enlargement and frequent raids, severely limiting each facet of their lives.
The West Financial institution is residence to roughly 3.3 million Palestinians. It’s divided into 11 governorates, with Hebron, or al-Khalil in Arabic, being probably the most populous at about 842,000 residents. Jerusalem follows with 500,000, Nablus with 440,000, Ramallah and el-Bireh with 377,000 and Jenin with 360,000.
About 700,000 Israelis dwell in unlawful settlements on Palestinian land.
(Al Jazeera)
Escalating assaults earlier than October 7
Lethal assaults on Palestinians within the occupied West Financial institution have continued for years.
Since systematic documentation started in 2008, UN knowledge reveals that at the very least 1,896 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers.
By October 6, 2023 – simply hours earlier than the Al-Aqsa Flood operation – the dying toll for 2023 had already risen to 198, surpassing 2022’s complete of 154 and making it the deadliest yr on file on the time.
Since October 7, 2023, the variety of assaults has skyrocketed.
(Al Jazeera)
Over the previous 17 months, greater than 900 Palestinians have been killed within the occupied West Financial institution. Greater than half of them have been from Jenin and Tulkarem.
Amnesty Worldwide described this violence as “brutal”, citing illegal killings, the disproportionate use of lethal power, and the deliberate denial of medical care to the wounded – all unfolding as international consideration stays fixated on Gaza.
Why is the northern West Financial institution being focused?
Israel’s persevering with army incursion, which it calls “Operation Iron Wall”, has primarily focused the northern governorates of Jenin and Tulkarem.
These governorates have fewer Israeli settlements than the remainder of the West Financial institution and have lengthy been centres of Palestinian resistance, an element that has traditionally hindered their annexation. In response, Israel has carried out systematic raids and large-scale demolitions in these areas, aiming to suppress resistance and set up full management – a part of a broader technique to tighten its maintain on your entire West Financial institution.
The refugee camps particularly have been closely focused. Since October 2023, the Tulkarem refugee camp, the second-largest within the West Financial institution, witnessed the destruction of 205 buildings, together with properties, business buildings, and agricultural infrastructure, adopted by 174 buildings in Nur Shams camp and 144 in Jenin camp. The height in Jenin occurred in August 2024, when 37 buildings have been demolished in a single month.
(Al Jazeera)
In response to Peace Now, an Israeli nongovernmental organisation (NGO), in 2024 a record-breaking 48 new settlement outposts have been established within the West Financial institution.
Even earlier than the battle, settlement enlargement was accelerating. In 2023, 31 new outposts have been arrange, with 21 showing in simply six months between February and July – nicely earlier than October 7.
Settler violence: An off-the-cuff weapon of displacement
Settler assaults have grow to be a each day prevalence within the West Financial institution, particularly in rural areas close to settlement outposts. Settlers have blocked roads to Palestinian communities, hindering entry to important providers and livelihoods. In some cases, they’ve destroyed water sources, reducing off important sources for Palestinian herding communities.
(Al Jazeera)
Testimonies from the southern West Financial institution village of Khirbet Zanuta describe properties and water sources being destroyed, forcing residents to flee. In Nablus, eight households (51 folks) have been forcibly displaced at gunpoint.
A report by the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din, which analysed 1,664 police investigations into settler violence towards Palestinians between 2005 and September 2023, discovered that:
94 % of instances have been closed with out indictment.
Solely 3 % led to convictions.
In at the very least 80 % of instances, investigations have been closed because of an alleged lack of ability to determine suspects or collect enough proof.
The examine highlighted a deep distrust of Israeli legislation enforcement amongst Palestinians, with 58 % of Palestinian victims in 2023 selecting to not report crimes to the police. B’Tselem, one other Israeli human rights group, has described settler violence as “Israel’s unofficial device” for expelling Palestinians, with the dearth of accountability contributing to a tradition of impunity.
Unlawful seizure of Palestinian land
A June 2024 report by HaMoked, an Israeli human rights organisation, confirmed that Israel has quickly intensified its management over the West Financial institution since October 2023, shifting in the direction of full annexation.
This effort is led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who was lately given a newly created minister place within the Ministry of Defence, granting him in depth powers over civilian affairs within the West Financial institution.
Smotrich, a settler who lives on Palestinian land exterior the unlawful settlement of Kedumin, additionally heads the Settlement Administration, a division throughout the Israeli Ministry of Protection, liable for overseeing the institution and enlargement of Israeli settlements.
In 2024, 24,700 dunams (6,100 acres or 2,470 hectares) have been labeled as “state land” by Israeli authorities, surpassing the 23,000 dunams annexed between 2000 and 2023. Moreover, 68 unlawful settlement outposts have been recognised by Israel and supplied with infrastructure, deepening Israeli management.
Smotrich’s switch of planning and demolition powers has accelerated the compelled displacement of Palestinians. His administration works with settlers to grab land, demolish Palestinian properties, and recognise unlawful outposts, additional entrenching settlement management.
(Al Jazeera)
Satellite tv for pc picture evaluation of northern West Financial institution
An evaluation of satellite tv for pc photos from March 12 over Tulkarem and Jenin reveals widespread destruction and bulldozing by the Israeli army:
12.5km (7.8 miles) of roads have been destroyed in Tulkarem and Nur Shams camp.
17.5km (10.9 miles) of highway networks have been demolished in Jenin camp.
In depth harm to buildings throughout all three camps.
Since October 7, 2023, the bulldozing of at the very least 523 buildings, which housed quite a few households, has compelled practically 3,000 folks from their properties, together with:
Tulkarem camp: 1,070 folks displaced after 205 buildings have been demolished.
Nur Shams camp: 965 folks displaced following the destruction of 174 buildings.
Jenin camp: 960 folks displaced after 144 buildings have been demolished.
Satellite tv for pc picture displaying destroyed buildings and roads in Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, on March 12, 2025 (Airbus) (Al Jazeera)
Satellite tv for pc picture displaying destroyed buildings and roads in Jenin refugee camp, on March 12, 2025 (Airbus) (Al Jazeera)
Satellite tv for pc picture displaying destroyed buildings and roads in Tulkarem refugee camp, on March 12, 2025 (Airbus) (Al Jazeera)
Satellite tv for pc picture displaying destroyed buildings and roads in Nur Shams refugee camp, on March 12, 2025 (Airbus) (Al Jazeera)
In response to the United Nations Aid and Works Company (UNRWA), displacement has doubled in current months, with the most recent army operation triggering the biggest wave of Palestinian displacement within the West Financial institution since 1967, with greater than 40,000 folks being compelled to flee their properties.
These figures level to a technique of dismantling Palestinian communities, as their presence within the West Financial institution poses a demographic problem to Israel.
New photos and reviews spotlight the size of devastation in Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams – total neighbourhoods lowered to rubble, 1000’s compelled to flee and the material of Palestinian society below systematic assault.
A singular sample was recognized in Jenin, which was not noticed in Tulkarem and its camp. The Israeli army has constructed 14 earthen boundaries surrounding the camp, with army autos positioned close to a few of these boundaries.
Satellite tv for pc picture displaying Israeli army autos and a floor checkpoint in Jenin refugee camp, on March 12, 2025 (Airbus) (Al Jazeera)
As well as, since October 2023, the Israeli army has imposed extreme motion restrictions on Palestinians, with 793 checkpoints by November 2024, 60 % of that are in Hebron, Nablus, and Ramallah – hindering medical entry, disrupting commerce and isolating communities.
Open requires annexation and displacement
Regardless of fast settlement enlargement, Israel faces a key demographic problem, because the birthrate among the many Palestinians within the West Financial institution, Gaza Strip and Israel stays greater than amongst Israelis residing in Israel and the occupied West Financial institution, though inhabitants numbers are roughly equal now.
(Al Jazeera)
To counter this, Israeli coverage more and more focuses on lowering the Palestinian presence in strategically delicate areas, framing displacement as each a safety necessity and a “humanitarian” resolution.
This technique is clear in statements by Israeli officers. In March 2025, Protection Minister Israel Yoav Katz defended unlawful settlements within the occupied West Financial institution as “important for shielding Israeli cities”, whereas media figures like Gideon Dokov referred to as the compelled elimination of Palestinians from all of Palestine “the one humanitarian resolution”, labelling Palestinians as “a murderous nation”.
The “Combating for Life” marketing campaign echoed this message with the slogan “No Future in Palestine”, encouraging what they euphemistically referred to as “voluntary emigration”.
In the meantime, Meir Masri, professor of geopolitics on the Hebrew College of Jerusalem, mentioned on social media platform X that the annexation of the West Financial institution is “the best Zionist achievement since 1967”, calling it a historic alternative that should not be missed.
In distinction, a coverage paper for 2025–2026, revealed by the Israeli Institute for Nationwide Safety Research (INSS) warned that unilateral annexation would deepen Israel’s international isolation, push it in the direction of a one-state actuality the place Jews danger turning into a minority, and contradict core Zionist ideology.
