Israeli rights group condemns 'Gazafication' of West Bank

An Israeli rights group has accused Israel of "Gazafication" in the West Bank, marked by increased violence involving indiscriminate harm and widespread displacements, as peace negotiators push for the release of more hostages and aid.

In their report titled "Gaza doctrine: The West Bank is under fire", published on March 10, Israeli group B'Tselem noted that since Oct 7, 2023, Israel has frequently bombed cities and refugee camps in the northern West Bank. From Oct 7, 2023 until March 8 this year, B'Tselem documented 69 airstrikes that killed 261 people, including at least 41 minors.

"Some were carried out by fighter jets for the first time since the Second Intifada. In stark contrast, airstrikes killed 14 people in the West Bank in the 18 preceding years, from 2005 to Oct 7, 2023," according to the report.

Further, the last two years have been the deadliest in the West Bank since 2002, highlighting the "extremely permissive" open-fire policy, which indiscriminately and disproportionately harmed Palestinian civilians, many of them minors.

According to B'Tselem, there had been at least 488 Palestinians – at least 90 of them minors – killed in the West Bank in 2024. In 2023, 498 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank – 120 of them minors and 4 of them women. Between October 2023 and March 2025, Israeli forces killed 180 Palestinian minors in the West Bank, and five others were allegedly killed by an unknown Israeli party.

The report also mentioned the large-scale invasion and destruction to civilian infrastructure.

Large military forces accompanied by bulldozers, the report said, have raided several cities and refugee camps and involved the detonation and partial or complete demolition of hundreds of homes, disruption of medical aid to residents, and, recently, the use of tanks and armored personnel carriers for the first time since the Second Intifada.

"The military, which forcibly transferred civilians in Gaza, is replicating this practice in the West Bank. Since Operation Iron Wall began on Jan 21, expanding from Jenin RC (Refugee Camp) to Tulkarm RC, Nur Shams RC and al-Far'ah RC, an estimated 40,000 residents have been displaced," the report said.

B'Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak said Israel's complete disregard for international law in its conduct in Gaza was now being replicated in the West Bank.

"The military activity there, as yet on a smaller scale than in Gaza, is already causing indiscriminate and disproportionate killing and destruction. In 15 months of war in Gaza, the government's actions made it clear that Israel has no intention of fulfilling its obligations under international law," said Novak.

"It is likely to continue blatantly flaunting its duty to protect lives and human rights, and to uphold basic moral and humanitarian standards, unless the Israeli leadership is held truly accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people," she added.

There had been reports of Israeli raids and attacks in the West Bank in recent days, as well as heightened attacks on Gaza, killing at least eight people, including a child, Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday.

Palestine's Wafa news agency reported on March 12 that Israeli forces' bulldozers had destroyed infrastructure in the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin, at dawn amid the deployment of additional military reinforcements. Streets were also reported damaged and civilian stalls razed amid the firing of tear gas canisters.

Arhama Siddiqa, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad in Pakistan, told China Daily that B'Tselem's report exposes Israel's systematic expansion of its military tactics from Gaza to the West Bank, "revealing the illusion of a ceasefire".

While negotiations claim to seek de-escalation, she said, real-time events tell a different story—Israeli forces continue their lethal raids in Jenin and Nablus, settler violence is surging with state backing, and airstrikes have intensified in Lebanon and Syria.

"Meanwhile, Gaza remains under siege, with aid blockages worsening famine conditions. This report is a crucial reminder that Israel's occupation is not confined to one territory — it is a sustained policy of apartheid and ethnic cleansing, emboldened by Western complicity and military support. Any so-called ceasefire without accountability is nothing but a tactical pause for Israel to regroup and escalate elsewhere," said Siddiqa.

jan@chinadailyapac.com