A sharp escalation by Israeli forces and settlers across the occupied West Bank has fuelled growing Palestinian concerns that Israel is pursuing a strategy that could trigger a broader explosion of violence, further destabilise the territory and undermine the future of the Palestinian Authority. Over the previous week, Israeli military operations have intensified across Palestinian cities, towns and refugee camps, involving deadly raids, arrests, home demolitions and large-scale land clearing. At the same time, Israeli settlers have carried out increasingly violent attacks against Palestinian communities, targeting homes, farmland and infrastructure under the protection of Israeli forces, according to Palestinian officials and local residents.
The escalation follows Friday’s deadly confrontations in the village of Tell, west of Nablus, where dozens of Israeli settlers clashed with Palestinian residents. The violence left five Palestinians dead, along with an Israeli settler and an Israeli military officer. According to Palestinian accounts, a Palestinian man had seized a settler’s weapon and opened fire when the settler and a soldier attempted to kill him. The Israeli military later said the incident had not been a pre-planned Palestinian attack and acknowledged that the settlers entered the village without prior military coordination.
Despite those findings, Israeli political leaders from the governing right-wing coalition have used the incident to call for harsher military measures across the West Bank. Senior Israeli ministers, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have publicly urged expanding military operations and repeatedly called for the displacement of Palestinian communities and the demolition of villages. Political analysts say the latest escalation reflects a broader Israeli strategy aimed at consolidating control over the occupied West Bank, expanding settlements and fundamentally altering realities on the ground with the support of both the military and the settler movement.
Fatah Spokesman Bassem Tamimi said the West Bank has been subjected to sustained attacks by both Israeli forces and settlers operating with military protection. “The aggression has continued for years, but it has intensified significantly since October 7 and has expanded dramatically in recent months,” Tamimi told Al-Ahram Weekly. He said settlers are attempting to impose irreversible facts on the ground through rapid settlement expansion. “More than 140 settlements and settlement outposts have been established across the West Bank since October 7,” Tamimi said, adding that the expansion has resulted in the seizure of hundreds of thousands of dunams of Palestinian land.
According to Tamimi, the Israeli government’s strategy is to fragment the occupied West Bank while consolidating control over Area C, which remains under full Israeli administration under the Oslo Accords. “The ultimate objective is to impose Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank and prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” Tamimi said. He noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have repeatedly rejected Palestinian statehood and openly supported policies intended to reshape realities on the ground. Tamimi also argued that the timing of the escalation is linked to Israel’s domestic political calendar, saying the governing coalition is approaching the end of its legal term ahead of parliamentary elections expected in late October.
Following the Tell incident, Netanyahu ordered what he described as a “large-scale operation” targeting Palestinian villages that Israeli officials labelled “terror hubs”, while also ordering expanded weapons seizures, the revocation of Palestinian work permits and the legalisation of additional settlement outposts. Palestinian officials and analysts warn those measures could open a new and prolonged front in the Occupied West Bank, even as some Israeli security officials have cautioned that recent events risk igniting a broader regional confrontation.
Retired Major General Ahmad Issa, a researcher specialising in Israeli and Palestinian national security affairs, said the violence in Tell marks a significant turning point in the West Bank. Israeli forces have imposed a tight siege on Tell, Nablus and surrounding areas, carried out large-scale arrest raids involving approximately 80 Palestinians, converted homes into interrogation centres and raided Nablus Specialised Hospital, where soldiers detained two brothers from the family of slain Palestinian Farouq Ramadan, including one who had been wounded. Issa said the escalation quickly spread beyond Tell as settlers launched attacks against Palestinian communities in Surra, Urif, Jit and villages across Qalqilya, Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem, setting homes and property on fire and causing additional injuries.
He cited UN documentation showing that settler violence has become increasingly systematic, with an average of six settler attacks recorded each day during 2026. Israeli military data from the Central Command also show a sharp rise in what the military itself has classified as “Jewish terrorism”. According to those figures, 128 serious settler attacks were recorded in 2025, compared with 83 in 2024 and 54 in 2023, representing an increase of more than 50 per cent. The Tell incident occurred less than three months before Israeli parliamentary elections scheduled for 27 October, 2026. Polling conducted after the incident indicated that Netanyahu’s Likud Party fell to 20 projected seats, losing two seats and marking its weakest performance since June 2025. Opposition leaders have portrayed the incident as evidence of a broader security failure.
Statements by Democratic Party leader Yair Golan and former defence minister and former military chief Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon reflect growing criticism of the government’s policies, Issa said. Recent opinion polls also show Israel’s opposition bloc maintaining a parliamentary majority with 61 projected seats compared with 49 for Netanyahu’s coalition, while former prime minister Naftali Bennett and former military chief Gadi Eisenkot both outperform Netanyahu in head-to-head leadership surveys. According to Issa, the findings point to a broader crisis of public confidence extending beyond the Tell incident itself. He noted that 60 per cent of Israelis believe the country faces “a real danger” of civil conflict, while nearly half express pessimism about the country’s future.
Meanwhile, Palestinian leaders have launched a diplomatic campaign warning that the escalating violence is part of a broader strategy aimed at destabilising the territory, undermining the Palestinian Authority and eliminating prospects for a two-state solution. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Vice-President Hussein Al-Sheikh have sent urgent letters to Arab and international leaders, including the European Union, the secretary general of the Arab League and the president of the UN Security Council, calling for immediate international intervention to halt what they described as Israel’s continuing military offensive and settler violence across the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, Abbas warned that the occupied Palestinian territory is witnessing a dangerous escalation.
The Palestinian president also accused Israel of pursuing policies intended to force Palestinians out of their land, warning that continued displacement could further inflame tensions and derail regional and international peace efforts. Tamimi said the international response has remained inadequate despite the growing severity of events across the Occupied West Bank. “The international position remains weak and does not reflect the seriousness of the developments taking place on the ground,” he told the Weekly. “This is not a new demand. It is a long-standing call that should have prompted serious action to stop settler attacks, end Israel’s violations and halt the role of the Israeli military, which provides protection for settlers and works alongside them in attacks against Palestinian land and people. Tamimi further said that Israel has incorporated settlers into official security structures operating under various names, including what he described as “civil guard” formations and other security units whose members receive state salaries.
According to Tamimi, these formations have become part of Israel’s official security apparatus while providing support and protection for settler attacks against Palestinian communities. Palestinian officials argue that, without stronger international intervention, the continued combination of military operations, settlement expansion and settler violence risks pushing the Occupied West Bank to broader instability while further eroding the viability of Palestinian governance and prospects for a negotiated political solution.
Tamimi also warned that Israel is pursuing a broader strategy aimed at weakening and ultimately dismantling the Palestinian Authority through coordinated political, economic and financial measures. He said Israel continues to withhold Palestinian tax revenues, restrict humanitarian assistance, tighten its military closure across the Occupied West Bank and maintain full control over the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge, the only international crossing available to Palestinians travelling from the West Bank to Jordan. At the same time, he pointed to an escalating financial crisis fuelled by Israel’s refusal to resolve the growing accumulation of Israeli shekels in Palestinian banks, restrictions on financial transactions, and the continued ban preventing tens of thousands of Palestinian workers from accessing jobs inside Israel.
Tamimi said these measures are deliberately designed to undermine the Palestinian Authority’s ability to function, weaken Palestinian institutions and intensify economic pressure on Palestinian society. “The cumulative impact of these policies threatens the collapse of the Palestinian Authority and could push the West Bank towards a dangerous explosion,” he said.
Tamimi accused Israel’s far-right leadership, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, of openly advocating policies intended to accelerate Palestinian displacement and consolidate permanent Israeli control over the Occupied West Bank. He said statements made by senior Israeli officials rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state and promoting expanded settlement activity demonstrate that the current escalation is part of a broader political strategy rather than isolated security measures. “The international community and Arab states must act before the situation reaches a point of no return,” he said. Without serious international intervention, the current trajectory risks triggering widespread instability while destroying the remaining prospects for a negotiated political solution.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 30 July, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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