According to complaints from local activists, the partial closure of entrances and exits to Qabatiya through the use of excavators and the destruction of paved sections has caused concern among residents, who believe that these measures are similar to previous measures in other parts of the West Bank. According to the official Palestinian agency WAFA, the Israeli military operation focused on the seizure and destruction of the house of those accused of a recent attack in northern Israel was the second consecutive day of intervention in that city.
The Israeli army reported in a statement posted on its website that intelligence coordinators conducted interrogations of suspects at the scene of the intervention. Together with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), they are carrying out reconnaissance and mapping work to demolish the house of the person accused of the knife attack and rollover attack that left two people dead last Friday. According to the WAFA report, the presence of military personnel and vehicles in the city has been continuously maintained since the start of the operation.
The official Palestinian agency stressed that Israeli forces are also carrying out intensive raids on houses, some of which have been used as temporary military bases. Activists in the region accuse Israeli authorities of pushing ahead with a “campaign of field interrogations against dozens of citizens, forced relocations and operations affecting basic urban infrastructure.”
Israel Katz, head of the Israeli Defense Ministry, publicly confirmed the continuity of the military intervention. “We will continue to pursue an inflexible offensive policy against Palestinian terrorism in the terrorist camps,” Katz said in a statement published on the social network X in statements quoted by the local press.
Criticism from community sectors and Palestinian media suggests a pattern in recent operations, balancing the current operations in Qabatiya with those deployed in refugee camps in the northern West Bank earlier this year. According to the WAFA agency, the actions have led to the displacement of families and restrictions on street communications, making mobility and access to essential services difficult.
Testimony collected by Palestinian media mentions cases of currently occupied houses being converted into operational bases, as well as the imposition of restrictions on the movement of residents outside and within the city. The WAFA agency also emphasized that the intervention had led to disruption of daily life and that the population was afraid of possible further destruction.
The context of the operation is a response to Friday’s attack that left two people dead in northern Israel. This incident led the Israeli Defense Forces to identify and point out a resident of Qabatiya as the perpetrator. According to information offered by the army and collected by media outlets such as the WAFA agency, the action in the city aims to punish and sanction those responsible, although Palestinian organizations and citizens claim that broader collective effects are being achieved.
As demolitions and checks on residents continue, Israeli military authorities insist that their goal is to neutralize threats and dismantle possible networks linked to violence. For their part, local Palestinian leaders cited by WAFA reiterate that these operations increase the community’s vulnerability and assume that evictions are being carried out that could constitute forced displacement, an accusation that refers to practices reported on other occasions in the occupied territories.
In summary, the situation in Qabatiya continues to be characterized by the Israeli military presence, reports of population displacement and the tightening of measures related to infrastructure and transport, in a scenario in which the interpretations of the objectives and consequences differ significantly between the parties involved, as can be seen from the reporting of the WAFA agency and the statements of the authorities and activists involved.
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