Israeli Air Strikes, Settler Attacks Escalate in West Bank

Medical sources report receiving the bodies and body parts of five Palestinians killed in an Israeli air strike on the Nur Shams refugee camp.

Israeli forces have reportedly been targeting Abu Shuja’a, a leader of the Tulkarem and Nur Shams Battalion, who has survived multiple assassination attempts.

One of those killed, Jibril Ghassan Jibril, had been released in a captives exchange deal last November.

The use of Israeli air strikes against Palestinian targets in the occupied West Bank has been increasing, with over 50 strikes documented by the UN, primarily in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nablus.

These attacks, often near residential areas, have had widespread effects on Palestinian civilians.

Simultaneously, settlers have intensified attacks on Palestinians, particularly in a village near Bethlehem, amid a broader surge in settler violence since the war began.

Palestinians attribute this increase in attacks to the sense of impunity felt by Israeli settlers.

Israeli forces have escalated their use of aerial strikes, justifying them as a response to Palestinian fighters using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) against Israeli vehicles and troops during raids on Palestinian villages, towns, and refugee camps.

Israeli war minister Yoav Gallant and other military officials have sanctioned these aerial strikes, leading to a marked increase in their frequency over recent weeks.

While drone and aerial strikes against Palestinians have been rare over the past two decades, they have now become a daily occurrence.

The UN has documented approximately 50 aerial strikes in the occupied West Bank since the start of the current conflict.

Palestinians now face the dual threat of Israeli raids and air strikes, adding a new layer of fear as strikes increasingly target residential areas.

Settlers, who are Israeli citizens living illegally on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds, have been a central element in the ongoing conflict.

Israel began building settlements shortly after capturing the West Bank, East Al-Quds, and Gaza Strip during the June 1967 Six-Day War.

Currently, over 700,000 settlers, making up 10 percent of Israel’s nearly seven million population, reside in 150 settlements and 128 outposts across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Some settlers move to these areas for religious reasons, while others are drawn by the lower cost of living or financial incentives offered by the Israeli government.

The Israeli government has openly supported settlement construction, and authorities allocate approximately 20 million shekels ($5 million) annually to monitor, report, and restrict Palestinian construction in Area C, which is solely administered by the Israeli regime and makes up more than 60 percent of the West Bank.