Israel’s West Bank Attacks Fuel Its Annexation Plans

DURING A TRIP to the West Bank to conduct research and visit her family in Nablus in 2022, Yara Asi remembered the moments when Israel’s military besieged the city, a major economic hub for the region, in an effort to weed out militants living there.

“Surely the world is going to intervene and they’re not going to let this major city be closed,” Asi recalled thinking.

The military siege lasted more than three weeks, killing more than 23 Palestinians across the territory. That year, Israeli raids and airstrikes killed more than 150 Palestinians, marking the deadliest year for the West Bank since 2006. The attacks — and the loss of life — continued into 2023 and have only accelerated since then.

While most eyes remain on Gaza, Israeli military attacks on the West Bank killed more than 594 since October 7, including 115 children who were killed by live ammunition, and 1,411 children injured, according to the United Nations. Around a dozen of those deaths can be attributed to violence by extremist Israeli settlers.

“Nobody intervened — nothing happened — and since then we’ve seen military incursions increasing and increasing, and I don’t see any real movement or even critique,” said Asi, a professor at the University of Central Florida and policy member at the think tank Al-Shabaka.