Having agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza, Israel has set its sights on the West Bank. Settler attacks and a spike in Israeli army raids have stoked fear among Palestinians. Israel has also set up new checkpoints across the occupied territory to isolate Palestinians. “For 14 months, we have watched a genocide unfold in Gaza,” journalist and human rights activist Shady Abdullah told Al Jazeera. “Some people here think we will share a similar fate,” he said.
Palestinians in the West Bank fear they could face the same violence inflicted on their people in Gaza.
Israel has killed more than 46,900 Palestinians in the war it launched in Gaza in October 2023.
“The consequences of the violence are displacement, whether direct or related, and this is consistent with Israel’s goal of preventing any Palestinian state on its own territory,” said Tahani Mustafa, an expert on Israel-Palestine at the International Crisis Group.
Israeli attacks in the West Bank predate the Gaza war, but have increased in intensity and severity since the war began.
“The settler violence and attacks that we are seeing are an indication of where we are headed right now,” Mustafa said.
