Child deaths surge amid 'Gazafication' of West Bank, says human rights group

Israel has brought the military tactics of its war in Gaza to the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians face mass forced displacements, a surge in airstrikes and a sharp rise in attacks on children and other civilians, a Palestinian-Israeli human rights group has said.

- Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum Tammun

B'Tselem has detailed the impact of Israel's most intense operations in the area for at least two decades in a report that describes what it calls the "Gazafication" of Israel's occupation there.

Israeli airstrikes in the West Bank since 7 October 2023, the beginning of the Gaza war triggered by Hamas's attack on southern Israel, have killed more Palestinians than during the violence of the second intifada of the 2000s, with children killed at a rate unprecedented during the territory's occupation, according to data collected by B'Tselem.

Military operations launched in three West Bank refugee camps in January also forced 40,000 people from their homes, the largest displacement since Israel's occupation began in 1967. Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, said troops would remain "for the coming year", meaning residents would not be allowed back in that time.

Israel says its operations target militant Palestinian groups. The refugee camps are historically home to fighters who consider themselves armed resistance.

"Israel's complete disregard for international law in the war in Gaza is now being replicated to the West Bank," said B'Tselem's executive director, Yuli Novak. "Its activity there, as yet on a smaller scale than in Gaza, is already causing indiscriminate and disproportionate killing and destruction."