Israel Strengthens Attacks in West Bank following Gaza Ceasefire

Image Credit: Lucy Warmington

After 15 months of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, a ceasefire deal has been reached between Hamas and Israel.

The Ceasefire Deal 

The deal was reached through negotiators on 15 January 2025, and went into effect on Sunday 19 January. It consists of three phases, similar to a deal previously proposed seven months prior, in May 2024. The first and current phase consists of a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and the release of 33 Israeli captives held by Hamas, in exchange for up to 1,900 Palestinian prisoners currently held by Israel. 

Approximately 1,000 of the Palestinians listed for release from Israeli prisons were detained after October 7 2023, and have never been charged. Israel has detained over 7,000 Palestinians from the West Bank since October 7, and as of January 2025, there are over 10,220 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. 3,376 of these Palestinians are being held through ‘administrative detention’, a practice in which the detainees are held without charge for an initial period of 6 months, which can then be indefinitely extended. 

The first day of the ceasefire on 19 January saw the release of three Israeli captives in exchange for the release of 90 Palestinian prisoners. Of the 90 Palestinian prisoners released, 21 were children, and 82 were detained in the past 15 months. In the time between the ceasefire deal and the release of these 90 prisoners, Israel had arrested 95 Palestinians in the West Bank. A second exchange happened on 25 January, in which Hamas released four Israeli captives, and Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners. 

The first phase of the ceasefire deal further states that Israel must permit a surge of aid into Gaza, which saw 630 lorries carrying food, fuel, medicine, and shelters entering on the first day, and a further 915 lorries entering on the second day. 

Israel must also allow for injured Palestinians to leave Gaza to receive necessary medical treatment, and allow the almost 2.3 million internally displaced Palestinians in Gaza to return to their homes, including to the North of Gaza. However, with the UN estimating that up to 60% of structures in Gaza have been seriously damaged or destroyed by Israel, most neighbourhoods are now rubble, and a majority of Gazans find they do not have a home to return to. 

Israel Instensifies Military Assault in West Bank

Since the announcement of the ceasefire, Israel has strengthened its military assaults in the West Bank, carrying out large-scale military raids focused on the city of Jenin. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed 900 people in the West Bank, arrested more than 9,700, and forced the displacement of over 2,000 Palestinians.

10 Palestinians were killed and 35 were injured, including medical staff, in an Israeli raid on a refugee camp on 22 January. A 2-year old girl was killed by Israeli forces on 25 January, when they opened fire on a building in Jenin.

Israeli settlers have stormed through two separate Palestinian villages in the northern West Bank, damaging property and setting cars on fire, and beating and injuring at least 12 Palestinians. In the United States, President Donald Trump lifted sanctions placed by the Biden administration on Israelis threatening violence in the area. The new Trump administration has also endorsed the belief that Israel has a “biblical right” over the occupied West Bank, has halted foreign aid, and permitted the shipment of 2000-pound bombs to Israel, previously blocked by the Biden administration. Trump further urged for Jordan and Egypt to receive more Palestinian refugees, declaring an intent to “clean out” the Gaza Strip. He stated “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say: ‘You know, it’s over.'”

The continued and rapidly escalating Israeli military raids in the West Bank are not isolated; Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting to cross the Netzarim Corridor to Northern Gaza, violating the precarious ceasefire deal.

Over 46,700 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7, 2023, including nearly 18,000 children, equating to 1 in every 50 people in Gaza. 110,700 Palestinians in Gaza have been injured.