Israel sends tanks to West Bank for first time in 23 years as 40,000 displaced
TEHRAN (Iran News) The Israeli military has deployed tanks in the occupied West Bank for the first time in over two decades, in a move that Palestinian groups condemned as an attempt to “annex” the occupied territory by force.
The deployment is part of an intensified campaign of raids and arrests that has displaced approximately 40,000 Palestinians from refugee camps over the past five weeks.
The Palestinian resistance group Islamic Jihad condemned the deployment of tanks in the West Bank, a first since the end of the second Palestinian intifada in 2005, as being part of a broader plan to “annex the West Bank by force.”
Islamic Jihad fought a deadly Israeli aggression alongside Hamas in Gaza. The war, which killed more than 48,000 Palestinians and left almost the entire enclave in ruins, came to a pause after Hamas and Israel reached a ceasefire agreement last month.
Tensions have spiked in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza. The Israeli military launched a bloody offensive in the occupied territory early in January, killing at least 60 Palestinians.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said on Monday that at least 365 Palestinians have been arrested in the Jenin and Tulkarem governorates during the latest offensive by Israel.
The mayor of Jenin also reported extensive destruction in the city’s refugee camp, saying that 120 homes have been completely destroyed, with many others partially damaged.
On Sunday, Israel told its troops to prepared for an “extended stay” in the West Bank.
- source : irna
