Israel sends tanks into West Bank for first time in decades, says fleeing Palestinians can’t return – The Associated Press
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Sunday that Israeli tanks had moved into the occupied West Bank for the first time since 2002.
Israel’s defense minister said Sunday troops would remain “for the coming year” in parts of the occupied West Bank where they have launched a weekslong offensive and would prevent tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians from returning, as Israel deepens its crackdown on the Palestinian territory.
Israeli tanks moving into the Palestinians city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Israeli tanks drive towards the occupied West Bank of Jenin camp, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
An Israeli tank drives towards the occupied West Bank of Jenin camp, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Two young Palestinian men pose for a photo with an Israeli bulldozer as it drives towards the occupied West Bank of Jenin camp, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Israeli tanks move into the Palestinians city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
This is a locator map of Israel and the Palestinian Territories. (AP Photo)
Israeli tanks gather outside of the occupied West Bank near Jenin, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Israeli tanks gather outside of the occupied West Bank near Jenin, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Israeli army armored vehicles block a road leading to the town of Quneitra, Syria, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy, File)
JENIN, West Bank (AP) — Israeli tanks moved into the occupied West Bank on Sunday for the first time in decades in what Palestinian authorities called a “dangerous escalation,” after the defense minister said troops will remain in parts of the territory for a year and tens of thousands of Palestinians who have fled cannot return.
Associated Press journalists saw several tanks move along unpaved tracks into Jenin, long a bastion of armed struggle against Israel.
Israel is deepening its crackdown on the Palestinian territory and has said it is determined to stamp out militancy amid a rise in attacks. It launched the offensive in the northern West Bank on Jan. 21 — two days after the current ceasefire in Gaza took hold — and expanded it to nearby areas.
Palestinians view the deadly raids as part of an effort to cement Israeli control over the territory, where 3 million Palestinians live under military rule.
AP correspondent Julie Walker reports Israel ramps up West Bank offensive and delays Palestinian prisoner handover.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to “increase the intensity of the activity to thwart terrorism” in all refugee camps in the West Bank.
“We will not allow the return of residents, and we will not allow terrorism to return and grow,” he said.
Earlier, Katz said he had instructed the military to prepare for “an extended stay” in some of the West Bank’s urban refugee camps from which about 40,000 Palestinians have fled, leaving them “emptied of residents.”
The camps are home to descendants of Palestinians who fled during wars with Israel decades ago. It was not clear how long Palestinians would be prevented from returning. Katz said Israeli troops would stay “for the coming year.” Netanyahu said they would stay “as long as needed.”
Tanks were last deployed in the West Bank in 2002, when Israel fought a deadly Palestinian uprising.
The Palestinian foreign ministry called the Israeli moves “a dangerous escalation of the situation in the West Bank,” and urged the international community to intervene in what it termed Israel’s illegal “aggression.”
“Even if they stay, we will return to the camp at the end,” said Mohamed al-Sadi, one of those displaced from Jenin. “This camp is ours. We have no other place to go.”
With fighting in Gaza and Lebanon on hold, Netanyahu has been under pressure from far-right governing partners to crack down on militancy in the West Bank. The U.N. says the current Israeli military operation is the longest since the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s.
Under interim peace agreements from the early 1990s, Israel maintains control over large parts of the West Bank, while the Palestinian Authority administers other areas. Israel regularly sends troops into Palestinian zones but typically withdraws them after missions.
More than 800 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the war in Gaza erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas attack on southern Israel. Israel says most were militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting Israeli raids as well as bystanders have also been killed. In the most recent operation, a pregnant Palestinian woman was killed.
Jewish settlers also have carried out rampages in Palestinian areas in the territory. And there has been a spike in Palestinian attacks emanating f
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