Israel in the middle of escalation not seen for a long time, says senior army officer

The head of the Israel Defence Forces Central Command, Major General Yehuda Fox, said on Monday that the state is in the middle of a major escalation and wave of Palestinian resistance attacks that it has not seen for a long time, the Times of Israel has reported.

“The IDF and security forces are operating daily in every region to foil the terror wave,” Fox told reporters at the IDF Regional Brigade headquarters near Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

He made his comment following the resistance attacks that led to the death of three Israelis in the Palestinian village of Huwara, which attacked earlier this year by illegal Jewish settlers backed by the IDF, and the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron. Palestinians have been facing an unprecedented level of settler violence backed by the army from there as well.

According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, the resistance counterattacks are being directed by Iran. “We are in the midst of a terrorist onslaught that is being encouraged, directed and financed by Iran and its proxies,” claimed Netanyahu.

Resistance to a military occupation is legitimate under international law; it is not “terrorism”. The reality is that the Palestinians are victims of Israeli terrorism, with settlers going on the rampage with increasing ferocity backed by IDF troops.

All of Israel’s settlements and Jewish settlers are illegal under international law.

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