Why is Israel raiding Jenin after the ceasefire in Gaza?

Days after the guns fell silent in Gaza, violence erupted less than 200km away in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

 

Israel’s military deployed tanks, snipers and special forces in the city on Tuesday, where it began an operation named “Iron Wall”, cracking down on what it described as terrorists within the Iranian axis. But videos have surfaced showing unarmed Palestinians being shot by Israeli forces. Twelve people have been killed in the raid so far and scores more injured.

 

At the same time, Israel has tightened security across the rest of the West Bank, drastically increasing the number of checkpoints and conducting mass arrests. This comes after 90 Palestinian detainees were released from Israeli prisons in exchange for three Israeli hostages being freed by Hamas in Gaza, as part of the first phase of the ceasefire that took effect there on Sunday.

 

Jenin had already been the site of another security offensive by the Palestinian Authority (PA) since December last year to root out what it called outlaws, drawing many questions about the back-to-back timing of these operations. The UN has said that Jenin’s sprawling refugee camp has become almost uninhabitable; Jordan’s foreign minister warned on the sidelines of Davos that Israel’s incursion could lead the West Bank to “explode”.

 

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher talks with Ahmed Fattouh, spokesperson for Fatah, the leading party within the PA, and with Palestinian political analyst Khalil Sayegh. They discuss whether the West Bank could be another flashpoint for long-term violence and what this escalation could mean for Gaza’s fragile truce.