Israel has deployed tanks into the occupied West Bank and ordered its military to prepare for an “extended stay” to fight Palestinian armed groups in the area’s refugee camps.
Sunday’s move comes among an expansion of military operations that have expelled an estimated 40,000 people from their homes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank over the past month, since a ceasefire paused fighting in Gaza.
Increasingly strident calls by Israeli hardliners for full annexation of Palestinian territories and a proposal by United States President Donald Trump to expel everyone who lives in Gaza have stoked fears of a new Nakba.
Here’s everything you need to know about the recent escalation in the West Bank and what it means:
What exactly did Israel do in the occupied West Bank?
Israel deployed three tanks into the Jenin refugee camp, the first such deployment in the occupied West Bank since 2002, when Israel launched a bloody crackdown on a Palestinian uprising known as the second Intifada, which lasted until 2005.
Israel began its attack on January 21 and has moved beyond Jenin and its camp southwards to Qabatiya and westwards to Burqin, and eastwards out of Tulkarem to Nur Shams refugee camp.
It has also raided further south in the West Bank, hitting Kobar and Silwad north of Ramallah, the Beitunia neighbourhood of Ramallah, and Hebron.
As it conducts its raids, the Israeli army is also expelling people, destroying roads, imposing curfews for days on end, blocking access points to towns, arresting people and commandeering homes for military use.
Is that legal?
No, it is not legal.
The International Court of Justice said in July that “governments have obligations to ensure that Israel brings the illegal occupation to an immediate end”.
The United Nations General Assembly in September adopted a resolution calling on Israel to end its illegal occupation of Palestine within a year.
Under the Oslo Accords signed in the early 1990s, Israel controls large parts of the West Bank, while the Palestinian Authority administers others, an arrangement intended as a precursor to a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
As the occupying power, Israel is obliged under international law to ensure the protection of Palestinians, the provision of basic services, and the respect of human rights.
What is the significance of Israel using tanks?
Israel regularly raids the West Bank but typically soon withdraws its forces.
The use of heavy tanks, on top of the usual armoured personnel carriers, signals how intensely the military is aiming to suppress Palestinian armed groups.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a military ceremony on Sunday, said the deployment showed that “we are fighting terror with all means, everywhere”.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said the move was a continuation of Israel’s “genocide, displacement and annexation”.
Why now? What does Israel want?
Netanyahu has been under pressure from far-right governing partners to crack down on armed resistance in the West Bank while fighting in Gaza and Lebanon is on hold.
His announcement that Israel was “entering terrorist strongholds, flattening entire streets that terrorists use, and their homes” also came after a series of bus explosions near Tel Aviv on Thursday night. There were no casualties reported and no groups claimed responsibility.
Palestinians view the expansion of raids as part of a broader effort to cement Israeli control over the West Bank, where three million Palestinians live.
Israeli media quoted sources close to the prime minister saying that the army intends to create large corridors in Tulkarem and Jenin – like the so-called Netzarim Corridor in Gaza – for the movement of its forces and heavy equipment.
Is Israel expelling people from their homes again?
About 40,000 Palestinians have fled the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarem, Nur Shams and Farea, which “are now empty of residents”.
It is not clear how long people will be prevented from returning to their homes.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said troops will remain in parts of the territory for a year and that the tens of thousands of Palestinians who were forced out will not be able to return.
“We will not allow the return of residents, and we will not allow terrorism to return and grow,” he said.
Where will displaced people go?
No plan has been put in place by Israeli or Palestinian authorities to house the displaced, who are living in dire conditions in makeshift accommodations.
Israeli advocacy group Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said some 500 people expelled from Tulkarem and Nur Shams found temporary shelter in al-Labad, east of Tulkarem, camping out in the basements of mosques, event halls, and community centres.
Others took refuge in nearby villages including Ezbat al-Jarad, Bal’a, Attil, Bizzariya, and Jarushia, PHR said.
ظروف قاسية يعيشها النازحون من مخيم طولكرم في ظل البرد والشتاء وعدوان المستمر. pic.twitter.com/JpGN0JUOsj
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) February 24, 2025
Translation: People displaced from Tulkarem camp live in harsh conditions amid the cold and the ongoing aggression.
Is there any help for those who have been expelled?
Israel has forced the main provider of aid to Palestinians – the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) – to close its headquarters in Jerusalem. On Sunday, Katz ordered the UNRWA to halt activity in the West Bank camps.
Israel accuses UNRWA of supporting armed groups and passed a law on January 30 banning it from operating in Israel.
PHR said there was a dire shortage of food, power, and medical supplies, adding that the Israeli army is “obstructing Red Crescent vehicles and humanitarian services, delaying their ability to provide first aid or transport patients for … treatment”.
Will this impact the ceasefire in Gaza?
The truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza already appears tenuous and attacks in the West Bank could tip the balance.
Hamas official Basem Naim told Al Jazeera that Hamas condemned the Israeli raids and saw them as Netanyahu “intentionally sabotaging the deal” and setting the stage for renewed war.
Netanyahu on Sunday said the military increased its “operational readiness” around Gaza and was “ready to return to intense fighting at any moment”.