The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) reportedly expanded their military operation dubbed “the Iron Wall”, which was launched on January 21, in the northern occupied West Bank to the city of Nablus on Wednesday, April 9.
The operation began in the governorates of Jenin and Tulkarm, including their refugee camps, under the pretext of crushing Palestinian resistance groups there before the unrest spread to Nablus.
Besides dozens of Palestinians being killed, tens of thousands of families have been displaced, dozens of houses were demolished and infrastructure was massively destroyed by the IOF during the operation, in what was described as a “continuation of the Nakba.”
Israel deploys three more battalions to Nablus
Israeli media reports said on Wednesday that the IOF deployed three more battalions, two special forces units and a Border Police force, to take part in the expanded operation in Nablus.
On Tuesday, April 8, undercover Israeli forces (also known as Mista’arvim) shot and kidnapped Palestinian youth Mahmoud al-Banna from the Khallet al-Amud neighborhood in Nablus city.
The condition of Al-Banna, whom Israeli media claimed was a senior member of the dismantled Nablus-based Lion’s Den resistance group, is still unknown.
Another young man named Khalil al-Hanbali was abducted by Israeli special forces in the central area of the city on the same day. In the southeastern part of the city, several people were detained and assaulted by IOF soldiers on Tuesday as well.
In line with the displacement campaign it launched in the refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarm, the IOF forced several families to leave their homes in Nablus’s Balata refugee camp on Wednesday.
According to eyewitnesses, the IOF raided and searched homes within the camp, converting some of them into military barracks. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that at least two people, including a 15-year old boy, were injured during the raid.
Other parts of the West Bank are not excluded from the IOF’s violence
While the northern areas of the occupied West Bank have been subjected to a fierce ethnic cleansing campaign, the rest of the areas were not excluded from Israel’s systematic violence.
On Sunday, April 6, the IOF shot dead 14-year old American-Palestinian citizen Amer Rabee, while he was on a family visit to his hometown Turmus Ayya, in the central governorate of Ramallah and Al-Bireh.
Amer’s father, Mohammad Rabee, expressed his disappointment in the US administration on Monday, saying that he “felt abandoned.” Rabee further accused the US of turning a blind eye to Israel’s increasing violence and abuses against Palestinians, including American citizens.
In the southern occupied West Bank, Palestinian elder Ghazi Manasra (70) died after suffering a heart attack as he witnessed the demolition of two houses by the IOF in Wadi Fukin village, west of Bethlehem on Tuesday.
Later during the day, the IOF demolished two homes in as-Samu town in the southern governorate of Hebron. They also detonated a home in Deir Ibzi town in Ramallah on Wednesday.
