Israeli media outlets have reported a significant shift in the occupation army's approach to the West Bank, with military analysts warning that the region is nearing a full-scale escalation due to mounting instability.

According to a military analyst cited by the Zaman Israel website, the occupation army has changed its operational tactics in the West Bank, launching what has been described as a "quiet battle of containment and deterrence" against resistance groups.

The report highlights that these Resistance groups are reorganizing their ranks and have begun revealing local missile manufacturing laboratories, posing a growing challenge to the occupation’s control of the area. The shift in military posture reflects deepening concern over the current trajectory of events in the West Bank, while the occupation army reportedly considers the situation volatile and increasingly difficult to manage.

The military analyst noted that deteriorating conditions on the ground, including a collapsing Palestinian economy, weakened civil infrastructure, and fragile security coordination, are pushing the region closer to renewed confrontation.

In particular, the analyst pointed to escalating settler violence, which has exacerbated tensions across towns and refugee camps in the occupied West Bank. These developments, combined with the rise of organized armed resistance and declining trust in the political process, have made the situation "on the verge of exploding."

The analysis from Zaman Israel underscores the growing view within "Israel" that the West Bank is entering a new phase of prolonged and unpredictable confrontation.

What's happening in the West Bank? 

The Palestinian Authority’s Commission against the Wall and Settlements reported on November 5 that Israeli occupation forces (IOF) and settlers carried out a total of 2,350 attacks in the occupied West Bank during October, continuing a relentless campaign of violence against Palestinians, their land, and property.

According to Mu’ayyad Sha’ban, head of the commission, 1,584 of the attacks were committed by occupation forces, while settlers were responsible for 766 attacks. The report revealed that the attacks were heaviest in the governorates of Ramallah and al-Bireh (542), Nablus (412), and al-Khalil (401), indicating a concentrated effort to disrupt Palestinian life in key areas of the occupied territory.

The violence has coincided with the annual olive harvest season, a time when attacks historically spike. The commission documented incidents including direct physical assaults, the uprooting and burning of olive trees, obstruction of access to agricultural land, and the seizure of property.

Since the beginning of October last month, Israeli occupation forces have escalated their raids and attacks in the occupied West Bank, detaining Palestinians and killing others, while also triggering a fragile economic structure. 

Military raids, detainments

Israeli occupation forces have carried out extensive incursions into Palestinian towns and refugee camps across the West Bank since the beginning of October, as part of a campaign to expand illegal settlements. Simultaneously, settlers, in the company of Israeli troops, continued their assaults on Palestinian farmland, uprooting hundreds of olive trees. 

According to Palestinian prisoners' institutions, the IOF detained 442 Palestinians from across the occupied West Bank, including al-Quds, during October 2025. Among those detained were three women and 33 children.

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In a joint statement, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society, and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association said that most detentions took place in the Beit Lahm governorate. The raids were accompanied by widespread field interrogations in various parts of the West Bank, in addition to assaults by Israeli colonists that contributed to the increase in detentions in several towns.

Additionally, a UN report revealed on November 8 that Israeli settlers carried out at least 264 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank during October, marking the highest monthly total since the United Nations began tracking such violations in 2006.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that the surge in settler violence has resulted in casualties and significant property damage, averaging approximately eight attacks per day. "Since 2006, OCHA has documented over 9,600 such attacks. About 1,500 of them took place just this year, roughly 15 per cent of the total," the UN said in a statement.

It is worth adding that the West Bank, home to 2.7 million Palestinians, remains central to aspirations for a future Palestinian state. However, successive Israeli governments have accelerated settlement expansion.

IOF begins military drills in the West Bank

On that note, the Israeli occupation army announced the launch of extensive military maneuvers on Monday morning across the West Bank and the Palestinian Jordan Valley, near the border with Jordan. 

In an official statement, the occupation army confirmed that the exercises will involve the intensive movement of forces and military vehicles throughout the designated operational areas. Israeli media reported that the maneuvers are intended to simulate a range of scenarios, with a particular focus on "providing protection for Israeli settlements and dealing with any attack that may target them."

The military exercises will contribute to heightened activity in areas bordering Jordan, particularly in the Palestinian Jordan Valley, and are part of the occupation's ongoing efforts to reinforce its military occupation of the West Bank and surrounding areas under the pretext of "security".

Deteriorating economic situation 

The already dire economic situation in the West Bank began deteriorating since the beginning of the war on Gaza in October 2023, marking a 30% unemployment rate, up from 12.9% before the war. This dramatic spike in unemployment reflects the loss of access to Israeli labor markets, which previously employed tens of thousands of Palestinians. A survey by the International Labour Organization found that in the first year of the war, more than half of employees had their hours cut, over 60% saw wage reductions, and 65% of businesses downsized.​

Israeli restrictions have further compounded the fiscal crisis in the West Bank, especially through the withholding of billions in Palestinian tax revenues since 2019. After October 2023, additional freezes on public funds made it nearly impossible for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to pay salaries in full, with most employees now receiving only partial payments funded by bank loans. Public debt surged to over $13 billion, while financial links with Israeli banks are being severed, threatening to force Palestinians into a cash economy and disrupt essential trade and imports.​

Liquidity shortages have become severe as surplus Israeli shekels accumulate and exchange offices are regularly raided. This not only disrupts the circulation of vital currencies like US dollars and Jordanian dinars, but also undermines daily transactions and trade. Experts argue that these economic interventions are intended to pressure Palestinians toward migration, with no technical reform able to resolve the crisis without a political solution, namely, an end to occupation, the reopening of trade routes, and true sovereignty for Palestine.

Olive trees uprooted

Israeli settlers have also repeatedly targeted Palestinian olive groves in the West Bank, uprooting and destroying thousands of trees, especially during the annual olive harvest season. Reports document that in October 2025 alone, settlers accompanied by Israeli forces uprooted approximately 150 olive trees in Masafer Yatta and more than 120 near Ramallah, disrupting local agriculture and threatening communities reliant on this vital crop. These attacks are strategically timed and often involve not just tree destruction but the imposition of movement restrictions, making it exceedingly difficult for farmers to reach their land without special “entry permits,” further entrenching the region’s apartheid reality.​

Further details reveal that settler violence has intensified in recent years. A report shows how armed settlers, sometimes with military support, burn groves, loot fruit, and even attack harvesters directly, actions that devastate livelihoods and aim to drive Palestinians off their ancestral lands. The olive tree, deeply symbolic in Palestinian culture, has thus become a focal point for settler aggression intended to both inflict economic ruin and erase cultural heritage.​

This campaign of land seizure and agricultural destruction is part of a broader strategy to expand Israeli settlements and annex more territory, as emphasized in interviews with local farmers and activist reports collected by Al Mayadeen.

One instance detailed the uprooting and burning of over 37,000 trees, including tens of thousands of olive trees, since October 2023. Farmers lament not only the loss of income and produce but the cultural attack on a crop central to Palestinian identity. This systematic violence undermines food security, destabilizes rural communities, and exemplifies the ongoing displacement and dispossession Palestinians face in the West Bank.​

What to expect? 

The current trajectory in the West Bank is leading toward a major explosion of instability and resistance. Israeli restrictions, settler violence, and the withholding of critical tax revenues have broken civil infrastructure and pushed families below the poverty line, eroding social trust and weakening the Palestinian Authority’s capacity to maintain order.

Military raids and detentions, particularly in governorates like Ramallah, Nablus, and al-Khalil, are expected to trigger rising community outrage and fuel resistance, amplifying the chances of large-scale confrontation.​

Settler attacks have reached record levels, coinciding with the olive harvest season and resulting in the burning, uprooting, and theft of tens of thousands of olive trees crucial to Palestinian livelihoods and cultural heritage. Combined with the occupation army’s renewed maneuvers across the West Bank and the Palestinian Jordan Valley, these trends represent an explosive mix of economic despair, organized resistance, and relentless occupation and settler violence.