Palestinian observers believe that the Israeli army's intensification of its field activities in the West Bank portends an explosive situation, which threatens to weaken the Palestinian Authority.

Observers said, in separate statements to Xinhua, that the almost daily Israeli army incursions into West Bank cities, especially the northern cities of Jenin and Nablus, and the accompanying operations of "armed resistance that cause human and material losses among its soldiers, heralds an escalation in the field situation."

Last Monday, Jenin and its Palestinian refugee camp witnessed a military operation by the Israeli army, killing 7 Palestinians, including a child and a girl, and injuring about 90 others, including 23 seriously, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The operation also resulted in the injury of 7 Israeli soldiers, due to the explosion of a homemade explosive device. Later, Saraya al-Quds, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement in Jenin, claimed responsibility for the incident.

During the military operation, which lasted about 8 hours, the Israeli army used fire from a military helicopter towards a civilian area in the city, after spotting armed men in it, in an incident that is the first of its kind in twenty years.

The field situation is heading for an escalation

The writer and political analyst in Ramallah, Ashraf Al-Ajrami, says that the results of the Israeli operation on Jenin represented a great shock to the attacking Israeli forces and to the Israeli security and political levels.

Al-Ajrami told Xinhua that the security authorities in Israel did not expect that the level of development of making explosives in Jenin would reach the level of detonating and damaging well-armored military vehicles.

He pointed out that the injury of seven soldiers was a major blow to the occupation, not only in terms of intelligence failure to know the possibility of the existence of explosive devices of this size, but also because Israel was not used to such a number of casualties in the incursions it carried out in the West Bank in recent years.

And he continues that the operation in Jenin proved that the Palestinian resistance groups, which were dominated by the nature of spontaneous action, became more organized in terms of awareness, combat capabilities, organization and maneuver in confrontations for long hours.

Al-Ajrami believes that the events in Jenin and other cities such as Nablus, Tulkarem and Ramallah may lead to a new uprising, especially if Israel escalates and kills Palestinian youths.

In the aftermath of the military operation in Jenin and its camp, 4 Israelis were killed in a shooting attack carried out by two Palestinians inside a gas station between the cities of Ramallah and Nablus last Tuesday afternoon.

As a result, Israeli settlers carried out large-scale attacks in several Palestinian towns and villages, which led to the burning of dozens of vehicles and homes, killing a Palestinian with live bullets, and injuring others.

And later, three Palestinian activists were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a vehicle in Jenin last Wednesday night.

Challenges Facing Israel in the West Bank

Talal Okal, a writer and political analyst in Gaza, says that the challenge that Israel faces in the West Bank is getting more and more complicated because armed groups have carried out 147 operations since the beginning of the year, and individual commando action has turned into organized action and a public challenge.

Okal added to Xinhua that with the escalation of "the military campaigns of the occupation forces, the capabilities, tactics and operations of the resistance escalate, and the price paid by the settlers increases."

Okal continues that after the two bombings in Jenin and the shooting in the Eli region, great confusion appeared at the levels of decision-making in Israel, and its options are limited to containing the resistance.

In the aftermath of Operation Eli, political voices rose in Israel to hasten to launch a large-scale military operation in the West Bank, especially the northern cities, in response to the Palestinian attacks.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called, in press statements two days ago, to launch a military operation in the West Bank and bomb buildings from the air, while Deputy Finance Minister Michal Miriam Voldeger said in a statement that we need a major operation to restore calm and deterrence to Jenin, and I hope we will achieve that.

Okal says that Israel knows that an invasion of the northern West Bank will lead to the involvement of the armed factions in Gaza in the confrontation, which will put them in front of two heated arenas.

With the escalation of tensions, the Hebrew public radio revealed on Thursday that the head of the Israeli General Security Service (Shin Bet), Ronen Bar, held an extraordinary meeting in New York about two weeks ago with officials of the United Nations.

Bar said during the meeting, according to the radio, that the Palestinian Authority had lost control over large areas in the northern West Bank, which prompted the Israeli army to intensify its activities there, warning of the deterioration of the PA's situation and the loss of its ability to operate in those areas.

Commenting on this, Hussein Al-Sheikh, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, affirmed that the role of the Palestinian Authority, which was formed in 1994 in accordance with the Oslo Accords, is to achieve the national project of freedom, independence and protection of the Palestinian people, and it will not be satisfied with anything other than this national and historical role.

He added that Israel must recognize that the problem is in the occupation and that there is no choice but a political solution that ends this occupation and establishes an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders.

Al-Sheikh added that what we are facing is a fierce and comprehensive war that requires the unity and cohesion of our people with all its forces, calling on the international community to take urgent action before it is too late and to send investigation and protection committees into the crimes of the Israeli occupation.

The Israeli government's only option is to use force

Ismat Mansour, who specializes in Israeli affairs, says that the Israeli government has no options but force against the Palestinian people in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

Mansour added to Xinhua that the right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu has no intention to open a political horizon or take steps to ease the state of tension prevailing since the beginning of this year.

He believes that the escalation of killings, demolitions, land confiscation, and the entry of settlers to carry out large-scale attacks against the Palestinians portends an open confrontation unless there is real international pressure to stop all these practices.

Since the beginning of this year, 24 people have been killed in Israel in attacks carried out by Palestinians. On the other hand, more than 175 Palestinians, including children and women, have been killed by Israeli bullets in the West Bank.