'Israel' escalates West Bank raids, arrests, and demolitions
3 Min Read
As "Israel" expands its genocide in Gaza, occupation forces and settlers expand attacks across the West Bank, targeting towns from Beit Lahm to Nablus.
-
A Palestinian youth carries clothes as he walks over the rubble of a house demolished by the IOF in the West Bank village of Beit Sira, near Ramallah, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025 (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
As "Israel" carries out its genocidal war on Gaza, Israeli occupation forces and settlers continue to terrorize Palestinians in the West Bank, targeting communities from Beit Lahm and Ramallah to al-Khalil and the Jordan Valley.
Israeli assaults on the West Bank began right after midnight with an IOF incursion into Tubas, where troops besieged a house. Another incursion into Beit Lahm followed, where multiple citizens suffered tear gas suffocation.
Later at dawn, the IOF arrested two brothers, Thaer and Mohammad Bassam Dawoud, after raiding and vandalizing their home in the city of Beit Lahm.
By mid-morning, in Ramallah and al-Bireh, seven Palestinians were arrested, while a café was demolished in the village of Beit Sira. Later in the day, soldiers returned to demolish the home of Yahya al-Abbasiyya in the same village.
In Tulkarm, six Palestinians, including three women, were detained during early raids. By afternoon, another young man was arrested as "Israel’s" military campaign on the city and its two refugee camps, Tulkarm and Nur Shams, stretched into its 205th consecutive day.
In Beit Lahm’s al-Maniya village, Israeli forces arrested 43-year-old Sultan Kawazbeh after storming his home, while in Salfit, troops shut down shops in Kifl Haris to secure settler visits to religious shrines. Evening hours saw further raids in Lubban al-Sharqiya near Nablus and in parts of Tubas and Nablus city.
Home demolitions and property seizures
Demolitions and confiscations also featured prominently throughout the day. In addition to the café and house destroyed in Beit Sira, Israeli forces dismantled vital infrastructure in the Jordan Valley.
In Ain al-Baida, troops seized a tractor and solar power system belonging to farmer Mohammad Faiz Daraghmeh. Local officials said such actions form part of a broader Israeli strategy to undermine Palestinian agriculture by stripping farmers of equipment and energy sources.
Meanwhile, in Nablus, occupation authorities issued orders to uproot olive trees east of the city, threatening one of the region’s key sources of livelihood.
Settler violence and expansion
Alongside military operations, settlers carried out a series of assaults under army protection. In Turmusaya, northeast of Ramallah, settlers attacked a Palestinian home, injuring two residents. Nearby, villagers in Deir Dibwan reported repeated settler incursions throughout the day.
East of al-Khalil, settlers beat a man and his son, while in the Ramallah-area village of Um Safa, settlers began carving a new road to expand their outpost.
In the Nablus region, settlers established a new outpost south of the city, stormed the archaeological site of Sebastia, and in the evening raided the Amarna hill area in Qaffin, north of Tulkarm.
