2/25/2025: Operation Iron Wall
What is it?
Yesterday, the IDF’s “Operation Iron Wall” in the northern West Bank/Samaria continued. This military operation, which began in January just after the signing of the ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza, is the largest scale military engagement in the West Bank since the second intifada. Currently, it is focused on the cities of Jenin and Tulkarem, but fighting has extended to many Palestinian towns in the northern West Bank.
Military operations in the West Bank have been ongoing October 7th, and have expanded since this past summer. Like the smaller raids over the summer, this Israeli operation was preceded by increased anti-terror activity by the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF). However, a new landmark was reached on Sunday, when for the first time since the intifada, Israeli tanks and military posts were installed in Palestinian-run cities.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has stated that this operation will continue through the end of the year, and that Palestinian residents displaced by it will not be allowed to return. According to both UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency, a UN body that serves parts of the Palestinian population) and Israel, 40,000 West Bank Palestinians have been displaced by Operation Iron Wall since January. Of these, only 3,000 have been able to return to their homes.
Why does it matter?
Let’s start with some context. In 2005, at the same time as Israel fully disengaged from Gaza, it also partially disengaged from northern Samaria. The few settlements in the region were evacuated, but the IDF did not withdraw its military presence. Since then, settler activists have repeatedly tried to illegally reestablish the settlements. After a terrorist attack in 2021, the IDF ended its policy of dismantling illegal Israeli construction in the area, and in 2024, the Knesset cancelled the disengagement law altogether.
In past West Bank operations in Jenin and Tulkarem, the IDF has conducted repeated raids rather than occupations. Soldiers would enter a town, conduct limited operations for a few days, and then withdraw. This pattern continued even after October 7th, during the fighting in the summer of 2024.
During this operation, however, the IDF has taken a completely different approach. In Jenin, IDF officials have reportedly discussed keeping the city functional during operations, financing the construction of new roads, and politically incorporating the refugee neighborhoods (which are run by UNRWA) into the city. All of this could just be an effort to sideline UNRWA, which Israel refuses to work with after revelations that members of its staff were directly affiliated with Hamas.
However, Katz’s insistence that the troops will remain for a year and PM Netanyahu’s recent appearance in Tulkarem suggest that Israel is trying to drive a new wedge between itself and the Palestinian Authority. The current Israeli government has consistently tried to break the PA, whether by driving into bankruptcy or by insisting that it not participate in the future governance of Gaza. Though the PA is hardly an honest actor, it had been using its security forces to combat West Bank terror and has recently been working on repairing its relationship with the US.
Since 2020, Israel has been moving towards greater direct control and potential annexation of the West Bank. Manufacturing more disputes with the PA, which governs many of the region’s urban centers, furthers that goal. While Israel has always prioritized combatting Palestinian terror in the West Bank, the particular way it is doing so seems to be serving a political interest.
President Trump is set to announce the administration’s policy on an Israeli annexation (partial or complete) of the West Bank sometime in the next few weeks. Although he ultimately blocked annexation during his last term, the perception among Israelis is that his administration is supportive. It seems that Operation Iron Wall is being shaped so that it could naturally lead into further consolidation of direct Israeli control in the region. The future of this operation, as well as of the tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians, likely hinges on what Trump says and when.