US urges Israel to protect civilians in West Bank, ‘rejects idea’ of mass displacement

Aug. 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The US government on Wednesday urged Israeli authorities to take measures to “protect all civilians from harm,” while acknowledging “Israel’s very real security needs, including combating terrorist activity in the West Bank,” after the Israeli army launched a large-scale operation that is the largest in years.

“We also remain deeply concerned about maintaining stability in the West Bank and continue to urge Israel to take all possible measures to protect the lives of West Bank civilians, just as we urge them to do in Gaza,” a US State Department spokesperson told Europa Press on condition of anonymity.

Asked about recent statements by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz about a “temporary evacuation” in the West Bank “in the same way” as in the Gaza Strip, the spokesman said that Washington “rejects the idea of ​​mass displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank,” although it has “recognized that localized evacuation orders may be necessary in certain cases to protect civilian lives during sensitive counterterrorism operations.”

Following the announcement by the Israel Defense Forces of the start of a military operation in the northern West Bank, Katz called early this morning for “addressing the threat in the same way” as in Gaza, “including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and whatever measures are necessary.” “This is a war for everything and we must win it,” he said, adding that “Iran is working to establish a terrorist front against Israel” following “the model of Gaza and Lebanon” by supplying weapons from Jordan.

Hours later, the head of Israeli diplomacy, who has clarified his message, reiterated that the objective of the large-scale military operation is “to prevent the establishment of another Iranian-Hamas-Palestinian terrorist front”: “We must confront this threat by all necessary means, including, in some cases of intense combat, allowing the temporary evacuation of the population from one neighborhood to another within the refugee camp to avoid harm to civilians and to allow the dismantling of established terrorist infrastructures.”

The IDF launched a large-scale operation in the early hours of the morning in several governorates in the northern West Bank (Jenin, Tubas, Tulkarem) which has so far claimed the lives of eleven Palestinians and wounded more than twenty others, as part of an increase in incursions by Israeli troops since October.

Israeli army operations and attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have left more than 660 Palestinians dead since the escalation of such actions since October 7, when the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) carried out an assault that left 1,200 dead and 240 hostages. Palestinian authorities in the Gaza Strip have since counted more than 40,500 dead from Israeli attacks.