| Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, has said that the military operation in Jenin marks a “shift” in security strategy and is aimed at “eliminating terrorists”. There has been a surge in support for Hamas in the occupied West Bank since the start of the war and other militant groups also operate there. However as Hamas rallies in Gaza on Sunday demonstrated, it is difficult to root out militant groups with military force alone, particularly when heavy offensives cause civilian casualties that serve as recruiting drives among the bereaved. “We saw in Afghanistan and in Iraq that killing civilians leads to recruitment to militant and terror groups,” Emma Graham-Harrison says. In Jenin, movement is being further heavily restricted due to the military operation. The IDF has reportedly increased the number of military checkpoints and gates, that now number almost 900 across the West Bank. Israeli forces surrounded a Palestinian government hospital and a nearby refugee camp in the heart of Jenin, and the Palestinian Red Crescent said its ambulances had been prevented from reaching many of the dead and wounded. One way to understand both the escalating settler violence and the intensified Israeli military campaign in the occupied West Bank is to zoom out and consider the timing. Internationally, settlers feel empowered by the strong support for their mission from key officials in Trump’s administration. The Israeli military has stepped down its campaign in Gaza, and, after shattering Hezbollah in Lebanon, it can divert resources from the country’s north. Iran is seriously weakened by the failures of its proxy allies, most significantly the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. For Netanyahu, the campaign offers a way to placate hardliners who opposed the ceasefire deal, at a time when Israel has both military resources and political backing to step up their presence in the West Bank. What is behind this latest wave of settler violence? In November, Katz announced an end to administrative detention orders for Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, meaning that the policy of holding suspects on security grounds without trial or charge would only be used against Palestinians. The rule was already used routinely and primarily against Palestinians – according to the Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem, by June 2024, the Israeli prison service was holding 3,340 Palestinians in administrative detention. Government security agency Shin Bet warned against the move because it would “result in an immediate, severe and serious harm to the security of the state”. Last week, the five settlers who were in administrative detention for violent acts against Palestinians were released, in a move that Katz said was a direct response to the release of Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire deal. He said it would “convey a clear message of strengthening and encouraging the settlement, which is at the forefront of the struggle against Palestinian terrorism and facing growing security challenges”. The Palestinian detainees that have been released are women and children. This policy has emboldened and deepened a “climate of impunity” among settlers, Emma says. “One security official was quoted in Haaretz saying that rightist activists – I would say far-right – believe they can act freely and that no one will arrest them, and that is very much what seems to be happening”. Settler violence has been on the rise for the last 15 months. Between 7 October 2023 and 31 December 2024, at least 1,860 such incidents in the occupied West Bank were recorded, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Impact on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank Since the 7 October attack, daily life has become more dangerous and more difficult for Palestinians in the West Bank. Armed settlers have assaulted Palestinian farmers, cut down trees and set fire to olive groves. Some are driven off their land and forcibly displaced by extremists, with the implicit approval of authorities. Roads are blocked so Palestinians are forced to take long detours, or closed entirely by checkpoints. Some have been blocked from reaching agricultural and grazing land. “There’s a sense of constant threat and risk,” Emma says. “One child who was killed, whose family we spoke to, was 12. He was just coming back from playing football at his local pitch when there was an Israeli military raid in his neighbourhood and was shot down in the street – there is footage. Another was 14. There’s no footage of the moment he was killed, but he was playing with friend in an olive grove when he was shot. If you think about what that does as a parent, to have this constant sense of fear for your children.” This Guardian report has more details on the huge rise of Palestinian children being killed in the West Bank. Exacerbating this routine violence is a dire economic situation. For the last 15 months, Israel has suspended entry for about 140,000 Palestinian workers from the occupied West Bank, causing unemployment and poverty to soar. “The situation has become more difficult in every way: both on a sort of mundane, daily basis, and at a much bigger, existential level,” Emma says. The shifting US position | 