Israel's West Bank siege: Temporary tactics or permanent takeover?

A sweeping Israeli military operation has been going on for the last few months in the West Bank, apart from the war in Gaza, displacing nearly 40,000 Palestinians, so far. There is concern that it could be the start of an attempt to annex parts of the territory. According to a New York Times report, what once were bustling neighbourhoods in cities like Jenin and Tulkarem have been reduced to scenes reminiscent of Gaza: homes flattened, roads gouged by bulldozers and entire communities displaced.

 

Unlike Gaza, where an ongoing war with Hamas has drawn global attention, this campaign has unfolded with relatively little scrutiny. However, the latest campaign has been the most sustained and intrusive Israeli military presence in the West Bank in decades. Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) started operations in January in three refugee camps — Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams, portraying it as a crackdown on armed militants. The scale of destruction, length of deployment and leaked future plans for the camps, meanwhile, suggest a marked shift with long-term implications.

 

Entire districts now lie deserted in Jenin, which was once home to more than 10,000 people. Roads in the region are blocked with mounds of earth and buildings reduced to rubble. Similar scenes are unfolding in Tulkarem, where the Israeli army announced plans to demolish over 100 buildings, citing the need to create easier access for military operations and prevent militants from regrouping. Aerial imagery confirms that roads are being widened and key buildings—many in densely populated refugee camps—are being demolished.

 

Historically, the IDF would enter, conduct raids and withdraw within days. This time, forces have stayed. Defence Minister Israel Katz has instructed troops to prepare for a year-long presence in Jenin and Tulkarem. This marks a profound change from the status quo established after the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, when Israel handed administrative control of many West Bank cities to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

 

Israel claims the PA has failed to suppress militant activity and justifies its actions as necessary for national security. Since the operation began, Israel says it has killed over 100 militants and arrested hundreds more. However, Palestinian and humanitarian sources report at least 100 civilian deaths and accuse Israel of forcibly displacing residents, despite military denials.

 

The new military strategy seems to be focused on the refugee camps, considered strongholds of resistance, which the Palestinians hold up also as symbols of the unresolved refugee crisis. Camps like Jenin and Tulkarem go a long way back, as they were established for Palestinians displaced in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Many fear the current campaign is a prelude to permanently displacing residents and dismantling symbols of Palestinian identity.

 

According to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Israel has demolished at least 260 buildings containing around 800 apartments since January. The agency estimates 42,000 people have been displaced. UNRWA’s West Bank director Roland Friedrich described the scale of destruction and displacement as "unprecedented" since Israel began its occupation of the West Bank in 1967.

 

On May 1, Israel provided Palestinian officials with a new demolition map identifying 106 buildings in the Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps scheduled for destruction within 24 hours. Residents were given a narrow window to return briefly and collect belongings.

 

The Israeli campaign has increasingly targeted infrastructure. In one example, Israeli forces destroyed a 1908 Ottoman-era train station in Jenin, claiming militants had built a tunnel underneath it. Military officials also say they are uncovering and destroying weapons factories, arms caches, tunnels and improvised explosive devices embedded within civilian infrastructure. The IDF describes its actions as strictly security-oriented, but Palestinians view them as part of a broader strategy to erase refugee camps and forcibly integrate them into surrounding Israeli-controlled areas.

 

Further stoking Palestinian fears are the statements from influential members of Israel’s far-right government, many of whom openly advocate for West Bank annexation. These views, coupled with Israel’s expanding road networks and the sidelining of UNRWA—reportedly told it would no longer operate in Jenin—suggest more than temporary military aims.

 

Palestinian officials, including the mayor of Jenin and local business leaders, say they were told by the Israeli military that the camps would be “normalised” into regular neighbourhoods, a move widely opposed by locals who see it as an attempt to eliminate refugee identity.

 

The operation began shortly after a ceasefire in Gaza in January. While Israel’s attention had previously focused on Gaza and Hamas, the West Bank became a new front, with Israeli and Palestinian Authority forces both targeting militants in Jenin. Local journalists estimated that before the joint crackdowns, Jenin camp hosted around 150 fighters affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Today, such groups have been eliminated by Israel. Still, the civilian toll has been devastating. As homes are destroyed, services suspended and aid agencies being forced to keep away, tens of thousands of Palestinians are left without any hopes for their future.

 

Despite Israeli assertions that its campaign is focused purely on combating terrorism, the scale, duration and depth of the operation as well as the political rhetoric surrounding it raise the spectre of a long-term transformation of the West Bank’s demographic and political landscape. For many Palestinians, the signs point not just to a military crackdown, but to a deliberate attempt to redraw the map of their homeland.

Middle East