Israel working to eliminate Palestinian presence from West Bank, NGO warns

Israel is executing a systematic and accelerated campaign to dismantle “Palestinian collective life” and establish permanent Jewish-Israeli sovereignty across the occupied West Bank, an Israeli human rights group has warned.

The “Elimination Project”, published on Monday by B’Tselem, details several tactics used by the Israeli government to help it achieve its overall objective of “erasing the Palestinian presence” from the occupied West Bank.

The report argues that while Israeli policies have been rooted in a long-term settler colonial framework, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has entered an accelerated phase of this objective since late 2022, particularly after the Hamas-led October 2023 attack on southern Israel.

“What Palestinians are living through in the West Bank is not a series of separate incidents. It is a single political project that reaches into every part of life,” said B’Tselem executive director Yuli Novak.

The report outlines five interconnected mechanisms Israel uses to advance its West Bank project, drawing from roughly 2,000 testimonies given by Palestinians.

Firstly, Israel is “using military forces and armed settler militias to impose violence, fear and coercion”, according to the report.

Between October 2023 and September 2026, Israel killed at least 1,107 Palestinians in attacks across the occupied West Bank, the NGO said.

The Israeli army uses military operations and demolitions and assists armed settlers in driving Palestinians from their land to expand its presence in the territory, the report said.