Abdel Raouf Arnaout, Qais Omar Darwesh and Lina Altawell
12 August 2026•Update: 12 August 2026
Israeli forces raided Balata refugee camp east of Nablus on Wednesday and demolished a residential building south of Bethlehem, displacing three Palestinian families, as an Israeli analyst warned that occupier violence is reshaping the occupied West Bank.
Anadolu’s correspondent said Israeli military patrols stormed Balata camp and nearby neighborhoods, while infantry forces deployed along Al-Madaris Street inside the camp.
The army also raided several homes, with no immediate information on arrests or clashes.
Separately, Israeli forces demolished a three-story residential building in the village of Al-Ma’sara, south of Bethlehem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction, displacing three Palestinian families.
The demolition took place in Area C, which falls under full Israeli control under the 1995 Oslo II agreement and makes up around 60% of the occupied West Bank.
During the first half of 2026, Israel carried out 341 demolitions, destroying 740 structures, affecting 923 Palestinians and issuing 254 demolition or stop-work notices, according to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.
In a related analysis, Haaretz military analyst Amos Harel said Israeli forces and police “have completely lost control of the West Bank in recent months.”
This comes as occupiers, with the enthusiastic encouragement of ministers and Knesset members in the ruling coalition, seize more land in Area B, Harel wrote.
“Occupiers are establishing dozens of farms and outposts and systematically expelling Palestinian communities from their land,” he said.
The army and police often ignore what is happening, while soldiers and officers have deliberately cooperated with occupier attacks on more than one occasion, Harel said.
The violence results from a system with a political wing comprising ministers and regional council heads, and a military wing of thugs on the ground, he added.
“The final goal is to expel Palestinians and seize more land,” Harel said.
Israeli forces conduct near-daily raids, arrests and searches across West Bank cities, towns and refugee camps, alongside occupier attacks and demolitions of Palestinian homes and structures.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023, Israeli army and occupier attacks in the West Bank have escalated, including killings, arrests, home demolitions, mosque arsons, land razing, forced displacement and illegal settlement expansion.
Palestinians warn that Israel is using these attacks to pave the way for the formal annexation of the West Bank, undermining the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state under relevant UN resolutions.