It comes following a shooting that killed two Israeli soldiers and later four Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces.
On Saturday morning, Israeli forces arrested nearly 50 Palestinians in the village of Tal, southwest of Nablus, where Friday’s shooting took place, while raiding roughly 70 homes.
Footage posted by Quds News Network shows two blindfolded men being led away by Israeli soldiers. The arrests are part of what Israel’s military has described as an “extensive” operation launched in response to Friday’s shooting.
On Friday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and war minister Israel Katz ordered a “wide-scale military operation” in Palestinian villages across the occupied West Bank following an attack near the illegal Havat Gilad settlement that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others.
According to sources and witnesses, Israeli settlers attacked several Palestinian communities in the Nablus governorate, setting fire to Palestinian homes and other property.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 87 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis in attacks across the West Bank since the beginning of the year, 21 of them by settlers, who critics say have become emboldened by the lack of international pressure on Israel to end its siege of Gaza, as well as the rhetoric of far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese on Saturday described Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians across the occupied West Bank as “pogroms,” calling for an immediate arms embargo and a halt to trade with Israel.
“Pogroms against defenseless civilians all over the West Bank, while Gaza is under fire,” Albanese posted on X.
She accused Israeli settlers and the army of “joining forces” in the attacks, arguing that responsibility was not limited to Netanyahu or “a few rotten apples”.
“Arms embargo now — stop trade now,” Albanese said, adding that such measures are required under international law, Al Jazeera reported.
Human rights groups have also urged the international community to take immediate action to stop state-backed settler violence in the West Bank, which has surged since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza in 2023.
In the West Bank, several arrests were also made in the northern city of Jenin, as well as in towns and villages across the governorate. Israeli forces raided multiple homes and deployed large numbers of troops.
Elsewhere, Israeli forces raided Tubas in the northeast and the Far’a refugee camp south of the city.
Soldiers arrived in Tubas in a large convoy of military vehicles and were deployed across several neighborhoods, raiding homes for about three hours, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. They then headed to the Far’a refugee camp.
Israeli forces also raided several other locations, including the village of Far’ata, east of Qalqilya, where at least eight Palestinians were injured, according to Al Mayadeen English. The Aqbat Jabr refugee camp in Jericho and the village of Kobar in the Ramallah and el-Bireh Governorate were also among the locations targeted.
Funerals were held overnight for the four Palestinians killed in Tal on Friday.
Residents said they were forced to hold the funerals at night because Israeli authorities barred them from doing so during the day. According to reports, only a limited number of Palestinians were allowed to attend.