Israeli minister calls for 'declaration of war' on Palestinians in West Bank
Minister of Settlement Orit Strock also called for a war to ethnically cleanse Gaza before 7 October
An Israeli minister called on the government to declare a state of war in occupied West Bank cities and settlements, Israel Hayom reportedon 2 September.
Orit Strock, the Israeli Minister of Settlement, made the demand while addressing the Military Secretary Roman Gofman and the Security Cabinet for Political and Security Affairs on Monday.
Strock, of the Religious Zionism party, has been at the forefront of the movement calling for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza to settle Jews in their place.
In July 2023, before the current war in Gaza started, she called for launching a war against Gaza to retake the strip and rebuild Jewish settlements, including Gush Katif, which was evacuated in 2005 as part of the Disengagement plan of then-prime minister Ariel Sharon.
Strock told Israel’s Channel 7, “I believe that, at the end of the day, the sin of the disengagement will be reversed.”
She suggested this would require going to war, adding that “sadly, a return to the Gaza Strip will involve many casualties.”
Earlier this week, the Israeli military launched its largest military operation in the West Bank in decades, as its forces invaded Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tuba.
The operation in Jenin continued on Monday, reaching its sixth day.
“Palestinians say the main goal of this military operation, the largest in more than two decades, is destruction,” reported Al Jazeera correspondent Niba Ibrahim from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
“We are another Gaza, especially in the refugee camps,” said Nayef Alaajmeh, a resident of the Nour Shams camp in Tulkarem, as he surveyed the damage following the Israeli withdrawal on Thursday.
The Israeli military claims that since launching the West Bank operation, its troops have killed at least 26 resistance fighters and detained another 30 wanted Palestinians. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have claimed 13 of those killed as their members, according to AFP.
The escalation in the West Banks comes as Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for launching a “preemptive strike” against “terrorism.”
“We are a step away from October 7 in Judea and Samaria and the center of the country,” Smotrich said in a video message Sunday.
“We need to do now what we didn’t do that cursed night and launch a preemptive strike and strike terror hard. Gazan, West Bank, and Lebanese terror are one, part of the Iranian choke ring. We are committed to eliminating terrorism on all fronts.”
While attention has focused on Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza, Israeli military operations in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have led to the killing of more than 600 Palestinians and the arrest of another 9,000 since 7 October.
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