Israeli forces launched widespread overnight raids across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, detaining dozens of Palestinians, storming homes, and issuing new demolition threats, according to local sources and human rights groups.

Analysts and Palestinian officials warn that these intensified measures are part of a long-standing strategy to forcibly reshape the demographic and geographic fabric of Jerusalem in favor of Israeli settlers.

In the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, Israeli soldiers carried out multiple night raids, seizing Palestinian homes for temporary military outposts and imposing severe restrictions on civilian movement. Local witnesses reported that more than 40 Palestinians were rounded up, held for hours on a sports field, and subjected to harsh interrogations. Residents noted that these raids targeted families accused by Israeli authorities of involvement in recent confrontations with settlers.

At the same time, armed settler groups attacked Palestinian families and agricultural lands in the area. One assault left three Palestinians hospitalized with bruises and fractures, following what witnesses described as a coordinated, unprovoked attack carried out under the protection of Israeli forces.

The Israeli military also stormed several cities across the West Bank — including Jabaliya, Nablus, Al-Bireh, and Qalqilya — damaging homes, vehicles, and public property while detaining additional Palestinians. Rights groups say such raids have become routine tools of intimidation aimed at weakening Palestinian communities and pressuring them to leave their land.

In occupied Jerusalem, Israeli authorities issued demolition notices to four Palestinian families in the Old City, claiming their decades-old homes were “uninhabitable.” The affected families rejected the allegation, stating that Israel has systematically denied renovation permits for generations — a tactic widely criticized as a legal façade for forced displacement. Their homes, some more than 60 years old, have been maintained under constant threat of demolition as part of Israel’s broader effort to strip Palestinians of residency and property rights in Jerusalem.

Palestinian sources report that during Israel’s ongoing two-year campaign on Gaza, settler violence has surged across the West Bank and Jerusalem. At least 7,154 settler attacks were recorded, killing 33 Palestinians and displacing 33 communities. Combined with Israeli military operations, more than 1,076 Palestinians were killed, some 10,760 injured, and over 20,500-detained — figures that human rights groups say reflect a systematic crackdown on Palestinian life.

Palestinian officials condemned the latest wave of raids and demolition orders, describing them as part of a deliberate policy to Judaize Jerusalem and fragment Palestinian society. “This is not security,” one official said. “This is a coordinated effort to empty Jerusalem of its people.”

Human rights observers warn that Israel’s continued use of home demolitions, mass detentions, and settler violence not only constitutes collective punishment but also undermines any prospects for meaningful negotiations. Analysts argue that these measures align with long-term Israeli strategies aimed at altering the demographic reality in Jerusalem and tightening control over Palestinian lands.

As tensions rise, Palestinian communities fear that the current cycle of raids and expulsions signals an even more aggressive phase of Israeli policies designed to entrench occupation and erase Palestinian presence from key areas of the West Bank and Jerusalem. (ILKHA)