Israel prepares major military operation in West Bank after four Palestinians and two Israelis killed. Israel’s military was massing forces near the West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarm on Sunday in preparation for what Israeli officials described as a major new military operation, following an exchange of violence on Saturday that left four Palestinians and two Israeli security officers dead.
The Palestinian Authority condemned what it described as a planned escalation, while international observers warned that a major new Israeli offensive in the West Bank would open a third active military front for an army already stretched across its ongoing operations in Gaza and its management of the Lebanon ceasefire.
What Triggered Sunday’s Preparation
The immediate trigger for Sunday’s military preparations was a Saturday exchange of violence in the northern West Bank that left six people dead — four Palestinians and two Israelis. The specific sequence of the exchange, and the respective characterisations of who initiated it, are disputed in the manner that is standard in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli security officials described the incident as a Palestinian attack on Israeli security forces, followed by a military response that killed the attackers. Palestinian officials and human rights organisations described the initial incident differently and disputed the characterisation of those killed as active combatants.
What is not disputed is that the exchange of violence was severe enough to prompt a significant Israeli military response — a build-up of forces near Jenin and Tulkarm that, by Sunday morning, had prompted military spokespeople to use the phrase “major military operation” in briefings to Israeli media.
The West Bank as a Secondary Front
The West Bank has been a slow-burning secondary front of the conflict that began with the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Since October 2023, Israeli military operations in the West Bank have been significantly more frequent and intense than the pre-October 2023 baseline. Cities including Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus and Jericho have all experienced sustained Israeli military operations involving both ground forces and air strikes. The Jenin refugee camp — the most densely populated area in the northern West Bank and historically the location from which Palestinian armed groups have operated most actively — has been the site of several significant Israeli operations over the past three years.
Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank — including Hamas military wings operating independently of the Gaza political leadership, Islamic Jihad, and newer groups like the Jenin Brigade — have significantly increased their operational activity since October 2023. The Israeli military assessment is that the combination of armed group expansion, weapons inflow from Jordan and Lebanon, and the deterioration of Palestinian Authority security capacity has created a West Bank security environment that requires sustained military intervention rather than the periodic operations that characterised the pre-October 2023 period.
What a “Major Operation” Would Mean
The phrase “major military operation” in the Israeli military context typically describes a sustained incursion involving ground forces, armoured vehicles and special operations units operating across a defined territory for an extended period — from weeks to months. Previous major operations in the West Bank, including Operation Defensive Shield in 2002 and the 2023 Jenin operation, have typically involved large-scale displacement of civilian populations, significant damage to civilian infrastructure, and high civilian and militant casualties.
For Israel’s military, the operational challenge of a major West Bank operation is capacity. The IDF is managing ongoing operations in Gaza, the Lebanon ceasefire’s monitoring requirements, the escalating Hezbollah threat from Lebanon, the Iran war’s immediate security implications including Iranian missile capabilities, and the constant requirement to maintain alert status on the Syrian and Jordanian borders. A major West Bank operation would require significant additional allocation of ground forces, intelligence assets and military administrative capacity at a moment when all of those are under pressure from multiple simultaneous demands.
For the Palestinian Authority — the internationally recognised governing body in the West Bank, led by President Mahmoud Abbas — a major Israeli military operation would create additional political and security pressure at precisely the moment when the PA is attempting to demonstrate that it can provide credible governance as the precondition for Gaza reconstruction aid. The PA’s ability to maintain control of territory and exercise authority in areas of West Bank cities subjected to major Israeli operations has historically been severely limited.
Why the Timing Matters Internationally
The preparation of a major West Bank operation arrives during a moment of unusual diplomatic activity on the Iran and Gaza fronts simultaneously. The US-Iran talks that UN Ambassador Waltz described as happening “at every level” are at a delicate stage. The Gaza reconstruction framework — including the Palestinian Authority elections announced for March 2027 — requires a West Bank that is not simultaneously in the midst of a major Israeli military operation. And the broader Middle East diplomatic environment, already strained by the Iran war and the Red Sea crisis, has limited capacity to absorb another major escalation without consequences that extend well beyond the immediate conflict zone.
