Middle East Crisis West Bank

Over 70 Arrested After Deadly Violence in West Bank

Israel's military IDF announced that it had arrested over 70 people in the occupied West Bank in the past 24 hours, reports AP.

Yesterday, clashes in the West Bank led to the deaths of four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers.

Ghassan Barkat, head of the Nablus Hospital in the West Bank, describes to the AP how over 50 armed Israeli soldiers stormed the hospital and frightened patients. According to Barkat, the soldiers tied up and deprived both staff and patients of their freedom, and arrested a seriously injured man.

- This should not happen in a medical facility, he says.

The IDF announced that it had searched over 300 locations and arrested what it describes as "terrorists, arms dealers and people with links to Hamas".

Israel prepares military operation in West Bank: “The villages must be emptied”

Israel is preparing a major military operation in the West Bank after an attack by settlers on Friday claimed several lives, including two Israelis. This is reported by CNN.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that the Palestinian villages where incidents occurred must be destroyed.

“The population must be evacuated for their own protection and the villages must be emptied of terrorist infrastructure and terrorists so that security can be restored.”

At least eleven injured in Israeli revenge attacks

At least eleven Palestinians have been injured in what are described as revenge attacks by Israeli settlers on Friday and Saturday night, writes Haaretz.

Two Israeli settlers were killed on Friday after attacking a Palestinian village outside Nablus in the West Bank. Exactly what happened during the incident is unclear – video footage appears to show a Palestinian man disarming an Israeli settler before the shooting begins – but revenge attacks are common after Israelis are injured or killed in the West Bank.

Israeli intelligence chief David Zini is urging calm.

“I ask the public not to take matters into their own hands but to trust the IDF and the Shin Bet security service,” he says.