Israel has intensified its military operations in the occupied West Bank, imposing a siege on Tubas governorate and displacing dozens of Palestinian families. The assault, according to local officials, is aimed at consolidating control near the Jordan Valley.
Israeli forces reinforced their presence across northern Tubas, blocking all access routes with earth barriers and deploying Apache helicopters over surrounding fields. Residents reported that the army conducted house-to-house searches in Tubas and nearby towns, including Tammun and Aqqaba.
Tubas Governor Ahmed Asaad described the operations as strategic rather than security-driven, asserting that the army seeks to reshape the region geographically. About 30 families have already been forced from their homes, while military forces occupied high ground overlooking the towns.
Local authorities have suspended schools and public services under the curfew, with emergency committees mobilized to respond to the siege. Movement of ambulances and urgent medical transfers has been heavily restricted, prompting intervention requests from the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Humanitarian organizations describe the siege as collective punishment targeting the Palestinian population. The blockade, ongoing raids, and curfews have disrupted daily life, exacerbating an already fragile situation for more than 50,000 residents in the encircled towns.
Reports from medics indicate that at least two Palestinians were hospitalized after being beaten during the raids. Palestinians liken the scale of Israel’s current operations in Tubas to the previous large-scale incursions in the West Bank, where homes were demolished and thousands displaced.
Hamas condemned the attacks as part of a systematic policy to suppress Palestinian presence in the region, calling the siege and raids an attempt at ethnic cleansing. The group warned that Israel’s actions aim to fragment and annex West Bank communities.
Other resistance groups, including the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, described the siege as an open war to forcibly remove Palestinians from the West Bank, accusing the United States of enabling Israel’s military operations.
According to UN data, Israeli forces have carried out nearly 7,500 raids across the West Bank this year, contributing to the territory’s worst displacement crisis in decades. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank over the past two years, while mass displacements from refugee camps continue.
Human Rights Watch has repeatedly condemned Israel’s forced removals as potential war crimes and crimes against humanity. UNRWA estimates that nearly 32,000 Palestinian refugees have been displaced from camps and surrounding neighborhoods during the current wave of operations.
The international community continues to monitor developments in Tubas, emphasizing the humanitarian impact of Israel’s siege and ongoing military activities on civilians in the occupied West Bank.
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