How normal are Israel’s war crimes in Gaza & the West Bank?

‘The settlers started shooting to scare the residents, but when they felt they weren’t moving away, they called in the Israeli army, which arrested them’

– Osama Makhamreh, Khirbet al-Markaz, West Bank

Residents said they were shocked when the Israeli army arrived and began attacking and arresting them, without confronting or even speaking to the settlers.”

14 members of the family were arrested and “The soldiers detained several children, the oldest of whom was only 12 years old, for several hours before releasing them.

The youngest family member to be still detained is 16-year-old Tahreer Makhamreh.

“The detainees were transferred to the Israeli army’s Susya camp and then taken by military bus to an unknown location,”.

These villages in Massafer Yatta have the misfortune to be located in one of many areas that Israel has declared a Firing Zone, needed for training soldiers – with live ammunition – and needing the land to be cleared of pepple and of buildings – and even, it seems of caves.

We need to state every time that under International Law, all settlements are illegal.  A brutal military occupation of the West Bank has been key to the oppression of Palestinians since 1967.  They are increasingly used to bolster the settlement movement and, since October 7th 2023, when many were called to fight in Gaza, settlers have been armed by the State – but many were armed before that.

Meanwhile the people who lived in the refugee camps of Jenin and Tulkarm and who were evicted at the beginning of the year have not been able to return to their homes. This article is from April but the situation continues Endless Displacement: The Tragedy of Forced Evictions in Tulkarm, Jenin – Palestine Chronicle

The Israeli military aggression against the refugee camps in the northern West Bank has been ongoing for three months, with no end in sight.

All residents of the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams camps have been forcibly evicted from their homes, and hundreds of these homes have been demolished as part of a broader plan to erase the refugee camps and completely alter their landscape under the pretext of eliminating armed resistance cells.

More than 40,000 displaced persons from these camps are living in difficult conditions without official Palestinian support. More than half of them have taken up residence in centers, halls, and clubs in the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm, suffering from a lack of aid and an uncertain future.

In May the Electronic Intifada wrote asking whether Israel will expand its assault on the West Bank? 

The expulsions from Jenin and Tulkarm have not ended, there was a commitment from the Military to demolish at least 100 residential buildings there; each would provide homes for several families.

In May, “Israeli forces informed their Palestinian Authority liaison office in Jenin that residents will be able to return to one area designated a “green zone.”  (this is rather reminiscent of sending people from all parts of Gaza to Al Mawasi as if there was sufficient space and infrastructure) 

“Israeli occupation forces remain stationed in and around the camps…preventing entry and exit. In February, the Israeli army asserted it will remain inside the refugee camps, which are located within city centers, for at least a year.

Last month, soldiers also sealed off the main entrances to the Jenin refugee camp with metal gates, further restricting movement.

(By late May) More than 130 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the beginning of the year, and dozens more wounded, according to UN monitoring group OCHA. Over 90 percent of those killed were in the six northern governorates of Jenin, Tubas, Tulkarm, Nablus, Qalqilya and Salfit – where the ongoing Israeli military assault has been concentrated.

Hundreds of homes have been demolished, and thousands more sustaining heavy damages including through explosives, bulldozers and severe vandalism. Vast stretches of roads and underground infrastructure have been dug out, both in the refugee camps as well as in the cities themselves.

The Israeli army is also carrying out unprecedented mass demolitions of homes inside the camps.”

There were serious concerns about something similar happening to Balata Camp, the largest in the West Bank, situated just outside Nablus.