Entire Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank have been forced into effective lockdown, a leading child rights organisation warned, as the Israeli military presses ahead with wide-scale operations across the territory. The ongoing, deadly raids have led to mass arrests and injuries among the local population.
Save the Children stated on Friday that numerous families in the northern West Bank are sheltering inside their homes. This domestic confinement stems from the deep fear of violence accompanying the Israeli military’s intensified operation, which began earlier this week.
The forced lockdowns are severely impacting children. They are “keeping children out of school, jeopardising family incomes and increasing risk of physical violence and child detention from the Israeli military,” the organisation reported.
Israeli troops initiated a siege on large parts of the northeastern Tubas governorate starting on Wednesday. The operation included a series of major raids spanning other cities and towns across the West Bank, notably Jenin.
The scale of the operation is significant. Since the raids began, dozens of people have been injured in the Tubas area, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Friday. Furthermore, the military has detained more than 160 individuals across the affected regions.
Israel maintains that the operation is designed to target and dismantle Palestinian armed groups. However, residents accuse the military of carrying out indiscriminate attacks against civilians. They also report that access for journalists and ambulances has been blocked and crucial infrastructure has been damaged.
International outrage has followed an incident caught on camera in Jenin on Thursday, which appeared to show Israeli forces killing two unarmed Palestinian men as they attempted to surrender.
The occupied West Bank has endured a drastic surge in Israeli military and settler violence since the start of Israel’s war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The neighbouring conflict, which has killed nearly 70,000 people since October 2023, casts a long shadow over the West Bank.
According to data from the United Nations, Israeli army and settler attacks have killed over 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Gaza war began.
The northern West Bank has been especially hard-hit. Approximately 32,000 residents from several refugee camps have been forcibly displaced from their homes since January and have been prevented from returning by Israel. The military has also conducted wide-scale home demolitions, which rights groups and UN officials argue forms part of a campaign to forcibly displace Palestinians.
Ameer, an employee of a Save the Children partner, described this week’s raids in Tubas as “a systematic assault by Israeli forces and a continuation of the Israeli government’s collective punishment policy.”
He stressed the impact on the youth: “The operation is cutting off children from the key services and supplies they rely on and need, including education and health services. Every child in these areas is being denied the right to an education,” Ameer said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Israel continues to carry out attacks on Gaza, despite a US-brokered truce agreement with Hamas that came into effect last month.
Attacks were reported near southern Gaza’s Khan Younis and Rafah on Friday. A separate Israeli drone strike killed a Palestinian in Bani Suheila, a town east of Khan Younis, according to a local medical report.
Since the October 10 truce began, at least 347 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, based on the latest data from the enclave’s Ministry of Health. Ismail al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s Government Media Office, documented 535 Israeli truce violations since the ceasefire took hold.
Al-Thawabta also noted that the flow of humanitarian aid remains severely constrained, arguing that aid is being used as “a tool of war.” He stated that Israel has allowed only 9,930 trucks into Gaza out of nearly 28,000 requested—a mere 35 percent—as the humanitarian situation deteriorates at an unprecedented rate.
