As Israel expands its ground incursion in the Gaza Strip, violence in the West Bank is also escalating, with at least 115 Palestinians killed and more than 2,000 injured since the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7, according to the United Nations.
Clashes between Palestinians in the West Bank and the Israel Defense Forces as well as attacks by Jewish settlers are common, but both have intensified in recent weeks. The IDF has been conducting an increasing number of raids in the West Bank since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel killed 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians. Since then, more than 8,500 Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
According to the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, of those recently killed in the West Bank, around half died in the clashes that followed Israeli arrest campaigns and about 40% "in the context of demonstrations in solidarity with Gaza."
On Tuesday, 70-year-old Rawhi Sawafta was shot dead by Israeli forces during a house raid in the West Bank city of Tubas. Clashes erupted when the IDF attempted to arrest his son, Nader Sawafta, who the Israeli military says is a central Hamas operative, according to Haaretz.
