Israel is bulldozing sections of West Bank towns, destroying infrastructure and businesses in operations that the government says are intended to root out terrorists and residents say appear designed to send an ominous message. Video shows Israeli soldiers impeding emergency responders, the New York Times reports. "We watched their bulldozers tear up streets, demolish businesses, pharmacies, schools. They even bulldozed the town soccer field, and a tree in the middle of a road," said Kamal Abu al-Rub, a local official in the northern West Bank. "What was the point of all of this?"
Israel said it's going after armed Hamas and other militants, reporting it found weapons stockpiles in the latest operation while killing 23 and arresting 45. The military told the Times it's trying to avoid "damaging essential infrastructure" in the West Bank as it demines roads or destroys arms caches concealed on private property. Officials conceded, however, that those "operations in the area have caused unavoidable harm to certain civilian structures." Residents of the towns of Jenin and Tulkarm said they have never endured such destruction to their roads and infrastructure.
Video supports the residents' accounts, per the Times. Sewer and water lines also have been destroyed, and internet, electrical, and phone service has been cut. One business owner said his store has been damaged 10 times in raids since the Israel-Hamas war began Oct. 7. He no longer replaces every shattered window and believes the destruction of business is intentional. "They are imposing conditions, materially and psychologically, that make people feel: Gaza is coming to you," said Shawan Jabarin of Al Haq, a rights group based in the West Bank. "There is a feeling among Palestinians across the West Bank that what is coming is very bad—that it will be a plan to kill and expel us." (More Israel-Hamas war stories.)
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