As Gaza war drags on, Israeli deadly assault on West Bank enters fourth day

On Saturday, Israeli forces detained several Palestinians in the Damaj neighborhood of the Jenin refugee camp, using them as human shields during their ongoing assault on the camp, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported severe difficulties in accessing casualties within the Al-Damaj neighborhood due to restrictions imposed by Israeli forces.

Local sources told Wafa news agency that the Israeli military carried out a large-scale detention raids in the eastern part of Jenin, involving house raids and searches on Saturday. Additionally, Israeli forces prevented water tankers from the Jenin Civil Defense from delivering water to Jenin Government Hospital.

The Israeli army says its objective is to target armed groups in the occupied West Bank and prevent future attacks, claiming to have killed 20 Palestinian fighters and arrested 17.

Palestinian residents say the widespread damage from the military incursion that has destroyed infrastructure, roads and utilities indicates the army's intent to render the territory uninhabitable and drive Palestinians from their homes.

"The occupation forces have destroyed the infrastructure and vandalised the roads, property and cars," Abu Mohammed told AFP news agency

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, said the Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank raids included a person with disabilities and several children, without specifying how many.

The Israeli military is officially forbidden from entering occupied West Bank cities and refugee camps, which are autonomous zones under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

Settler attacks

Over 700,000 settlers, or 10 percent of Israel’s population, now reside in 150 settlements and 128 outposts across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Illegal Israeli settlers have also stepped up their attacks on Palestinians in Ramallah as well as in other cities in the occupied West Bank, aided by Israeli forces.

The methods employed by illegal settlers varied from firing live ammunition to beatings, stoning vehicles, stealing livestock and valuables, and burning crops.

Eyewitnesses have detailed that the settlers "damaged water tanks, stole mobile phones, and assaulted several residents" during attacks.

On Friday, settlers set fire to a large area of cultivated land belonging to Palestinians in the village of Burqa, located east of Ramallah. The settlers reportedly came from the nearby settlement outpost of Oz Zion.

Following the attack, the Israeli army entered Burqa, firing stun grenades and teargas canisters at villagers' homes and obstructing Palestinian firefighting teams from reaching the burning land, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

In another incident, settlers took control of a spring water source near the village of Beit Furik, east of Nablus.

The overall death toll of Palestinians killed in the West Bank since October 7 by the Israeli army and illegal Jewish settlers reached 673, in addition to over 5,400 others injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

On July 19, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark advisory opinion declaring Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land "illegal" and called for the evacuation of all existing settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Despite this ruling, the situation on the ground remains tense, with ongoing settler violence adding to the already fraught conditions in the occupied territories.

Analysts say that illegal settlers are exploiting the lack of global attention on the occupied West Bank to expel Palestinians from their land there.