The Israeli intelligence services (“Aman” and Shin Bet) warn of the escalation of the security situation in the occupied West Bank, in light of the escalation of settler terrorism and the increasing number of martyrs killed by occupation bullets and the withdrawal of permits from Palestinian workers against the backdrop of the war on Gaza.

On Wednesday, the Israeli security services warned of an imminent security escalation in the occupied West Bank, during a meeting of the Israeli “war cabinet”, held at the Central Command headquarters in the occupation army with the participation of the heads of settlement councils in the occupied West Bank, amid allegations of thwarting “a number of operations.” "which was planned against Israeli targets, in recent days.

This came according to what was reported by the Israeli media, noting that officials in the General Security Service (Shin Bet) and the Military Intelligence Division warned of an “imminent security escalation on the West Bank front,” in light of the withdrawal of permits from Palestinian workers against the backdrop of the war on Gaza, and the escalation in numbers killed, and increasing cases of settler attacks.

The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (“Kan 11”) indicated that this is the second time that the “War Cabinet” has met outside the headquarters of the Israeli Ministry of Security in Tel Aviv, as it had met at the headquarters of the Southern Command before the start of the occupation’s ground operations in the Gaza Strip, to approve practical plans, in light of American warnings of the escalation of settler attacks in the West Bank.

During the meeting held with the participation of the heads of the settlement authorities in the West Bank, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the terrorist attacks carried out by settlers in the West Bank, and claimed that “a handful of extremists who do not represent the public sitting here are causing great harm to the State of Israel,” and added, “We will take action against them in every way."

Shortly after the meeting, Netanyahu’s office circulated another statement in which it said that he had notified the heads of the settlement authorities that he had informed the US President, Joe Biden, “that the accusations against the settlements are baseless. There is a small extremist minority that does not come from the settlements. We condemn them and deal with them with the force of the law.” .

During the talks held by Biden administration officials with their counterparts in Tel Aviv, they stressed the need to “restraint” and “maintain calm” in the West Bank, considering that “escalating tensions” in the West Bank may lead to an escalation that would “exacerbate the crisis related to the war on the besieged Gaza Strip.

The two officials confirmed that during Biden's phone calls with Netanyahu in recent days, he renewed his "concern about the increase in the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank as well as the increase in settler violence."

The two officials added that Biden informed Netanyahu that "Israel must move to calm the situation in the West Bank and prevent settler attacks against the Palestinians in order to prevent the situation on the ground from exploding, which would further aggravate the current crisis."

In turn, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called on Netanyahu's government to exercise "restraint" in the West Bank, warning that Tel Aviv would wage a "war on three fronts." Lapid said in statements to Israeli Channel 12, “Part of the problem is the fear of riots breaking out in Judea and Samaria (the biblical name for the West Bank).”

He explained that the reason for these fears is “terrible irresponsibility on the part of extremist settlers who are trying to set fire to the area.” Lapid added that there are Israeli parties, referring to “religious Zionism” and “Otzma Yehudit,” that “encourage their supporters to riot” in the West Bank.

He called on Netanyahu's government to "exercise restraint there (in the West Bank), otherwise we will fight a war on three fronts," in reference to the ongoing war in Gaza and the confrontations on the Lebanese border. Meanwhile, various parts of the West Bank and Jerusalem witness daily raids and incursions into villages and towns by the Israeli army, accompanied by confrontations, arrests, and the firing of live bullets.

Since the start of the war, the violence of settlers and the Israeli occupation army against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has escalated, affecting the Palestinian presence in general, including farmers’ activities during the olive harvest season, as well as protests demanding an end to the war on the besieged Gaza Strip.

In this context, the Minister of Finance and Minister in the Israeli Ministry of Security, Bezalel Smotrich, demanded in a letter sent to Netanyahu and the Minister of Defense, Yoav Galant, that “cleared security zones (i.e. free of Palestinians) must be established around the settlements and roads, and Arabs must be prevented from entering them” in order to achieve peace.