Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday gave a stunning admission and appeared to brag that the IDF has evacuated around 40,000 Palestinians from the northern West Bank during its operation dating back to January 21 – the largest number of such evacuees in the area in decades.
Katz’s admission was a 180-degree turnaround after the IDF had repeatedly denied the 40,000 number following separate reports by The New York Times and CNN in recent weeks.
In fact, even on Sunday, IDF sources contradicted Katz, telling The Jerusalem Post that he was using unreliable UN Relief and Works Agency data.
Further, IDF sources gave the Post the first actual IDF estimate, which the military had failed to share in recent weeks despite repeated requests, saying around 13,000-14,000 Palestinians have been evacuated during the operation centering around Jenin, Tulkarm, Nur Shams, Tubas, Kabatiya, and other parts of northern Samaria.
Moreover, IDF sources indicated they were blindsided by Katz’s statement and did not know he was going to stake out such a provocative position until they saw the statement in the media.
Unlike the IDF, which had said that the Palestinian civilians were not forced to leave and would be allowed back to their homes soon, Katz said that Israel “will not allow the return of the [Palestinian] residents or for terror to return to flourish.”
The defense minister’s statement comes only days after a Thursday night attempt by Palestinian terrorists, likely from the Tulkarm area, to blow up five buses in the Bat Yam area, with various smart moves and luck leading to preventing the attacks from going off as planned and no loss of life.
Katz appeared to be trying to impress the more right-wing side of the public with how tough Israel is on the Palestinians in the West Bank following the attempted Bat Yam terror attacks.
Tanks in West Bank
His statement came shortly after the IDF confirmed it is using tanks in larger amounts and more aggressive ways in the West Bank than it has done in decades.
However, whereas using tanks is an aggressive move that could potentially lead to more explosive battles between the IDF and Palestinian terrorists, it in no way inherently violates international law.
In contrast, many observers say that if Israel, in fact, has evacuated 40,000 Palestinians and prevented them from returning to their homes for any significant period of time, this could constitute a new large war crime before the International Criminal Court, which already issued arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant relating to the conduct of the Israel-Hamas War.
Later Sunday, Katz’s office did not respond to questions about why his numbers and positions contradicted consistent IDF positions on those issues.
However, Katz reiterated in a speech on Sunday night at an IDF officers’ course ceremony that Israel would prevent large numbers of Palestinian civilians from returning to villages where there were suspicions that waves of terror had not yet been rooted out.
Also, the defense minister repeated recent statements that IDF troops would remain for an indefinite period in certain areas, such as parts of Jenin, where they have not spent extended stays in decades.
Pressed for what the Foreign Ministry’s position was on the disagreements between Katz and the IDF, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s office had not responded at press time.
The IDF did not put out any public statement on the issue on Sunday.