Israel opposition leader calls for restraint in West Bank

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid yesterday called on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to exercise “restraint” in the occupied West Bank, otherwise Tel Aviv would have to wage a “war on three fronts”, Anadolu news agency reported.

The Israeli army has been waging an aggressive war against the besieged Gaza Strip since 7 October, with the death toll surpassing 10,569, a majority of them children. Israel has also been attacking southern Lebanon.

Lapid said in remarks to Israel’s Channel 12 that “part of the problem is the fear of riots breaking out in Judea and Samaria” referring to the occupied West Bank, citing the “terrible irresponsibility on the part of extremist settlers who are trying to set fire to the area.”

Lapid added that there are Israeli parties that “encourage their voters to riot” in the West Bank, referring to Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit parties.

Various parts of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem witness daily raids and incursions into villages and towns by the Israeli army, accompanied by confrontations, arrests and the firing of live bullets.

Earlier yesterday, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club announced that the Israeli army had arrested at least 65 Palestinians in overnight raids, bringing the number of Palestinians detained since 7 October to 2,280.

READ: The other mass displacement: while eyes are on Gaza, settlers advance on West Bank herders