The office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has asserted that the ongoing Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank amounts to “ethnic cleansing” and urged the US to intervene.
In a statement, spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that the presidency condemned the “occupation authorities’ expansion of their comprehensive war on our Palestinian people in the West Bank to implement their plans aimed at displacing citizens and ethnic cleansing.”
“These aggressive policies carried out by the occupation forces in the West Bank have led to the death of 29 citizens, hundreds of wounded and detainees, in addition to the destruction of entire residential blocks in the Jenin and Tulkarem refugee camps, the displacement of thousands of citizens, and massive destruction of infrastructure.”
Nabil Abu Rudeineh
He called on the Trump administration to intervene before it is too late to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression, which will lead to an “uncontrollable escalation, with consequences that everyone will bear.”
The Palestinian Authority, which is led by Abbas and is a Hamas rival, exercises limited governance over the West Bank where around 3 million Palestinians live and over which Israel maintains overall military control.
Israeli forces say they are targeting Palestinian militants across the West Bank.
The UN has raised concerns, however, about “the use of unlawful lethal force in (the city of) Jenin.”
The United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees has said that almost all of the Jenin camp’s 20,000 residents have been displaced over the past two months.
The Jenin operation has been accompanied by increased restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement across the West Bank, with hundreds of checkpoints introduced in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The occupied West Bank has seen a surge in violence since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, with Israel launching near-daily military arrest raids.
There has also been a rise in settler violence against Palestinian people and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Since October 2023, over 880 Palestinians have been killed across the occupied West Bank in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers, according to reports, while another 6,700 or so have been injured and at least 14,400 have been detained.
The Palestinian ministry of health says the Israeli military have killed at least 70 people, including 10 children in the West Bank since the beginning of 2025.
Thirty-eight were killed in Jenin; fifteen in Tubas; six in Nablus; five in Tulkarem; three in Hebron; two in Bethlehem; and one in Jerusalem.
As well as killing ten children, the Israeli military killed one woman and two elderly Palestinians.
Amnesty Paying Attention To Events In West Bank
Meanwhile, the head of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard stated that the charity is paying close attention to the events unfolding in the West Bank, where the Israeli military has been carrying out raids every day for the last fortnight. “What we do know and what we have investigated in the past, demonstrate a multiplication of violations, including of the responsibility of Israel as the occupier,” she said.
“Let’s recall that Israel is unlawfully occupying the West Bank, and it has a responsibility under international law as a military occupier and clearly, every one of those responsibilities are being violated right now.
“Are we looking at war crimes? It will demand a number of analyses that we have not conducted yet.”
Agnes Callamard
Nonetheless, she added that there is absolutely no doubt that human rights violations are being committed, including the unlawful destruction of Palestinian property, and unlawful detention, and forced displacement. “Will that amount to committing genocide? It will take more time to reach that conclusion,” she noted.
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