Palestinians in the West Bank fear that they may suffer the same fate as Gaza did. “We watched a genocide unfold in Gaza for 14 months and nobody in the world did anything to stop it, and some people here think we’ll suffer a similar fate,” said Shady Abdullah, a journalist and human rights activist from Tulkarem. “We all know we fear that the situation could get much worse here in the West Bank,” he told Al Jazeera.
Following the ceasefire in Gaza, Israel has shifted the battlefield to the West Bank. Hours after the Gaza ceasefire began on Jan. 19, Israel began erecting dozens of new checkpoints in the West Bank to prevent Palestinians from gathering and celebrating the release of political prisoners who were let go in a swap for Israeli captives held by Hamas as part of the deal. The checkpoints also prohibit farmers from reaching their farmlands, and sealed civilians in entire cities, such as in Hebron and Bethlehem. Israeli settlers then began expanding illegal outposts in the West Bank and attacking Palestinian villages.
