Over the past few days, the towns and cities of the occupied West Bank have witnessed an escalation of raids.

As the war in Gaza grinds on, much focus is placed on the besieged enclave, leaving a blind spot for Israel to exploit the West Bank.

More than 1,600 Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank since the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel.

At least 121 Palestinians also have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers during that same period, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said.

Israeli forces staged overnight raids in different parts of the occupied West Bank, with some even lasting till early Tuesday, October 31, 2023.

At least two people have been arrested in the city of Nablus following the latest Israeli night raid in the occupied West Bank.

According to the Palestinian news agency, the two young men were arrested in the villages of Zawata and Beit Iba west of Nablus.

It disclosed that the Israeli forces targeted the city of Hebron in the southern area of the Palestinian territory.

Aside from the cities of Hebron and Nablus, Israeli forces also carried out raids in several other areas in the occupied West Bank.

According to several reports, Israeli forces also raided and made arrests in the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin; the village of Deir Ballut, west of Salfit; the village of Zawata, south of Nablus; and the al-Shweiki suburb in Tulkarem.

Israeli forces have stormed the town of Aroura in the occupied West Bank, surrounding the family home of Saleh Al-Arouri, deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas, before blowing it up.

According to the report, Israeli forces also stormed the Aida, Al-Azza and Dheisheh refugee camps, further expanding their raid early on Tuesday to several other areas in the occupied West Bank.

Omar Baddar, a Palestinian American political analyst, opined that Israeli settlers are “seeing an opportunity” with global attention turned to the situation in Gaza “to step up their racist, violent and murderous attacks on Palestinians” in the occupied West Bank.

“There is no accountability for settler violence, and this is really an effort to push Palestinians out of more and more parts of the West Bank that Israel wants to claim and that the settler movement wants to take over,” Baddar told a news agency.

He added that settler violence takes place “with the blessing of the Israeli government to a great degree”.

No Safe Way To Exit Gaza

For civilians, there is no safe way to leave Gaza City. Those who attempted to leave the city and head south have been targeted by the Israeli forces.

Speaking at an emergency UN Security Council meeting, the Palestinian UN envoy, Riyad Mansour said that Palestinians in Gaza are “enduring suffering that no human beings should endure.”

“They are besieged and bombed with nowhere safe to go,” he said.

“How many more days will you wait to say, ‘enough’? Paralysed, not acting, not carrying out your duty to maintain international peace and security and to stop that war,” Mansour said to the council members, urging an immediate ceasefire.

Also, Jordan’s UN envoy, Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud told the Security Council that Palestinians in Gaza are facing a false choice: “Either you die in the north of Gaza or be transferred to the south of Gaza, to also be killed there.”

“The council should not accept this,” the Jordanian envoy said.

“Isn’t it time for the council to say to Israel that human life is sacred, regardless of someone’s religion, ethnicity or origin?”