Israel carried out mass raids across the occupied West Bank on Thursday, detaining at least 80 Palestinians and demolishing homes, as violence escalates alongside the Gaza war.
The latest Israeli military raids across the occupied West Bank on Thursday led to the detention and abuse of more than 80 Palestinians, while demolitions of family homes continue distroying livelihoods in places like Hebron. The scale, geographic spread, and intensity of the actions point to an operational normalization of mass arrests and punitive measures as Israel prosecutes its war in Gaza and simultaneously escalates pressure in the West Bank.
Israeli forces surrounded a house in Dura, south of Hebron, and shot and wounded the brother of Mahmoud al-Fasfous, a Palestinian long sought by Israeli security services. In the Khallat Nafisa area of Hebron, troops sealed off civilian access before bulldozing the home of Imran al-Atrash. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that al-Atrash and Walid Muhammad Khalil Sabarna were killed in mid-November after being accused of a car-ramming and stabbing attack on settlers. The Israeli military later posted images of the demolition on Telegram celebrating the destruction.
“Collective Punishment” as Practice
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said the detention of at least 80 Palestinians, including one woman and two children, represents “an unprecedented escalation since the beginning of the year” and described the raids as part of a campaign of collective punishment. Field interrogations, the group said, have “become the occupation’s most prominent policy.” Arrests were reported across Hebron, in the Arroub refugee camp north of the city, and in surrounding towns, with Wafa noting that virtually all areas around Hebron were affected.
In Masafer Yatta, particularly the al-Majaz community, Israeli forces searched homes, looted property, and converted one residence into a temporary military outpost, forcing the family to spend the night outdoors. This method is considered a standard practice in the West Bank, one that is repeatedly used by Israeli soldiers to snatch land. Through the temporary seizure of Palestinian homes under security pretexts, the houses are converted into forward positions. Residents are forced out, sometimes overnight, while the structures are used for surveillance, troop accommodation, or command posts during raids. These takeovers, frequently repeated in the same locations, normalize the expropriation of civilian property and entrench military control over surrounding communities.
Yehuda Shaul, a former Israeli paratrooper has repeatedly described how Israeli units routinely seize Palestinian homes for military use. In testimonies and interviews, he explained that the takeover might continue sometimes for hours, sometimes for days, with no legal process and no regard for the residents’ lives.
“The Demolitions Never Stop”
Demolition operations now expanded by the Israeli government have also unfolded in the Ramallah and el-Bireh governorate, where soldiers entered the town of Kobar and spread through multiple neighborhoods. Residents told Al Jazeera that troops shouted taunts, including making statements such as: “Who wants to become a martyr? Where are the cowards?”
Other soldiers showed no remorse, dancing and singing at times while demolitions were underway. A video widely circulated online on Tuesday, January 13, shows a group of soldiers recording one of their colleagues as he dances, while the noise of heavy machinery, believed to be a tractor or bulldozer, can be heard in the background. Activists said the footage was filmed in Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, as Israeli forces were demolishing nearby Palestinian homes.
Israei soldiers allegdly dancing to house demolitions in Westbank
Annexation Logic, Stated Explicitly
These actions align with long-articulated Israeli policy positions on the West Bank. In an interview with The Economist, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Whatever the solution will be between us and our Palestinian neighbors, it will be one in which we will maintain the sovereign power of security because the area is too small.” He added that Israel “will have to be the country that controls security west of the Jordan,” referencing earlier plans under the Trump administration to annex main Israeli-populated areas while retaining control over the rest.
Rising Death Toll, Legal Context
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 240 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank in 2025. Israeli forces accounted for 225 deaths, while settlers killed at least nine, with six cases unconfirmed. Fifty-five of those killed, nearly 25 percent, were children.
About 700,000 Israelis now live in settlements across the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, all of which are illegal under international law, according to the UN, which has repeatedly urged their dismantlement and warned that the system resembles Apartheid.
