Israel deploys battalions to a West Bank refugee camp: 14 families displaced and 7 detained

The Israeli Army deployed five battalions to the Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, as part of a raid that has so far resulted in the arrest of seven people, according to a military statement released Wednesday.

"As part of the expanded counterterrorism activity that began on Monday, five new battalions began operating in the Balata area of ​​Nablus yesterday afternoon," the army reported.

For its part, the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, denounced the new raid on Tuesday, stating that the Israeli army has forced 14 families to leave their homes in the last 48 hours to turn them into military barracks and interrogation centers.

The Army said it inspected hundreds of structures, detained seven suspects (whose alleged affiliation with armed groups was not specified) , and located and confiscated "additional weapons and military equipment ," about which it did not provide further details.

In their actions, the armed forces prevented the evacuation of humanitarian aid cases from Balata, leading local authorities to attempt to coordinate the evacuation by ambulance of 25 patients with kidney and cancer problems, according to Wafa.

He noted that the occupation still prevents humanitarian cases from leaving the camp, and stressed that he is coordinating with the Palestinian Liaison Office to allow 25 patients with kidney and cancer problems to travel by ambulance for treatment.

However, Palestinian ambulance and first aid teams are facing "serious difficulties" treating patients in the West Bank due to the increased presence of Israeli troops and the designation of certain areas as "closed military areas," following the outbreak of the escalation between Israel and Iran last Friday.

Israel's actions in Balata are part of the Iron Wall massacre, which began on January 21 in the Jenin refugee camp (also in the north) and is already the longest continuous operation the army has maintained in the occupied West Bank since the Second Intifada (2000-2005).

Under the umbrella of this operation, the armed forces have been operating throughout the West Bank for nearly six months, carrying out "counter-terrorism" operations (which were already common before the Iron Wall began), which have led to the displacement of up to 44,000 people since it began.

In this context, Israel has also been taking action in recent days in Qalqilya, Salfit and Khayus.

At least 121 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in the West Bank since the start of Operation Iron Wall, 21 of whom are children, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Although some of the dead are members of local militias, civilians and children as young as two years old are also among the dead.

In Nablus governorate, 25 people have died (5 of them in the Balata camp).

Since October 7, 2023, when Israel intensified its operations in the West Bank following the attack by Hamas-led Gazan militants, troops have killed 958 Palestinians in the territory.