Israel threatens full-scale war with Palestinian Authority over West Bank attacks

After a Palestinian stabbing attack on an Israeli settler in the north of the West Bank, Israel Katz warned of war with the Palestinian Authority. Katz said that if the Palestinian security apparatus planned or arranged an attack on Israeli soldiers or Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the army must prepare for a full-scale war. He said an Israeli military operation would target the Authority’s “leadership and structures” as well as “any terrorist structures” in the area. He also announced a “permanent presence” of the Israeli army.

The Palestinian Authority is based in Ramallah in the West Bank. The Israeli army said it had killed the attacker in the stabbing. Government chief Benjamin Netanyahu said: “No terrorist can hide.”

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the end of the Six-Day War in 1967. According to the report, around three million Palestinians and more than 500,000 Israelis live there in settlements. The report states that international law considers all settlements illegal. It also says the Israeli government has strongly promoted their construction and expansion in recent years. Many outposts, which initially consist of only a few housing containers or temporary buildings, also violate Israeli law, though some have recently been approved.

Netanyahu’s government includes several extreme-right ministers who openly support annexing the West Bank. Before the Israeli parliamentary election on October 27, the government is pushing forward further construction projects. The report also says that violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians has increased sharply since the large-scale attack by the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023 (Psalm 82:3).

On October 7, 2023, Hamas and its allies from the Gaza Strip attacked Israel. More than 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. Israel responded with massive attacks on the Gaza Strip, in which more than 70,000 people have been killed, according to Hamas figures that cannot be independently verified. Despite a ceasefire agreed in October, the Israeli army attacked targets in the Gaza Strip almost daily.

Source: Read the original report (translated from German)