Introduction 

Since the beginning of 2023, 30 Palestinians, including 5 children, have been assassinated by the Israeli occupation army. According to Palestine Documentation Centre, the year 2023 has so far witnessed the highest rates of Israeli violations committed against the Palestinians in the West Bank and Al-Quds, as it documented 35520 violations, including 176 murder cases; among them were 45 children, 7 women and 4 elderlies. Also, 55545 colonial settlers have stormed Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, guarded by Israeli occupation police thus far. Therefore, this briefing aims to provide an informational coverage for the field events, from January 26, 2023 up to January 28, 2023, along with a general assessment of those events and their implications. 

 

General Findings 

• On January 26, 2023, an Israeli occupation force disguised in a civil car stormed the Jenin camp, north of the West Bank, in order to assassinate a group of resistance fighters. As the force was soon exposed, it was supported by large troops, resulting in 9 Palestinian martyrs, including an elderly woman. 

• The way the 9 Palestinians were martyred in Jenin has triggered a great outrage amongst the Palestinians at the official, factional and popular levels. The Palestinian Authority announced that "the immediate orientation towards the International Security Council to implement the resolution on providing international protection for the Palestinian people and ceasing unilateral procedures." On the other side, the Palestinian factions announced a state of grief and anger . 

• The Jenin operation has led Netanyahu to decide to limit the Israeli occupation army's operations carried out inside the Palestinian cities, until it is really necessary. He also instructed Minister of Internal Security Itmar Ben Gvir to cancel a permit he granted to Israeli extreme settlers to organize a march in front of the Bab Al-Amoud in Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa . 

• Tension has escalated and the Israeli occupation authorities have announced a state of alert in the West Bank. On January 26, 2023, the Palestinian factions in Gaza launched two rockets towards the Gaza envelope, and the Israeli army responded by firing 15 missiles over Hamas sites . 

• Palestinian martyr Khairy Alqam carried out a fedayeen operation in which he killed 7 colonial settlers on Jan 27, 2023. This operation was followed by another one that led to the injury of a number of Israeli settlers the next day. 

•  Head of the right-wing government Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Internal Security Itmar Ben Gvir reached the location of the first operation, Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant cancelled his visit to the United States, and 'Israel' deployed more forces in Al-Quds and West Bank. Netanyahu said that his government decided to take immediate procedures in response to Al-Quds attack, whose nature will be determined in the security cabinet's session, scheduled to be held on Saturday, Jan 28, 2023. Following the meeting, punitive measures related to closing the perpetrators' houses, deporting their families and arming more setters were adopted. 

• During the discussion sessions of the Security Council, prompted by China, UAE and France, Robert Wood, American deputy in the International Security Council, stated that Washington aims to reduce tensions in the Middle East, condemned the Al-Quds attack, and felt sorry for the killing of Jenin's innocent citizens. The Chinese delegate also stated that 'Israel' must refrain from using violence against the Palestinians and protect the civilians according to the international law. "I am not optimistic. The volcano might explode at any moment and there might be other consequences. We need to seriously think of what is going to happen," he added.  

 

General Assessment 

The Israeli violations committed against the Palestinians have led to the escalation of resistance operations, and the success of the intermediary parties in preventing a military escalation to occur between the Israeli occupation army and Gaza could not restrict the Palestinian youth, as in less than 24 houses, two fedayeen operations were carried out. The abovementioned findings make us expect that 'Israel' would not give a direct response to the Palestinian Authority or Gaza, as the operations were carried out within Israeli-controlled lands and the fighters are from the same lands. The Israeli security system failed to confirm any relationship between the perpetrators and any factional work run by Gaza or the West Bank, limiting the Israeli occupation army's options to respond to the Palestinians and triggering the Mossad to implement operations outside Palestine to target Palestinian figures accused of supporting the Palestinian Resistance in the West Bank with weapons and funds to the occupied Palestinian cities.    

The international and regional concern is already present. However, the accelerating field events doubled that concern, which would lead to more efforts to assure the non-escalation of the situations into a confrontation affecting the region. Also, the desire for field calm might align with the wish of Netanyahu, who is expected to tend to further control his government's extreme members, yet the field actions and behaviors represent the influential factors to tilt the control factors over the escalation ones.