Amid Israel-Hamas war, Palestinian PM says Netanyahu wants to annex West Bank | Here’s what’s happening

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "strategy has been designed to fully and totally isolate Gaza and to gradually and incrementally annex the West Bank," said Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera on Friday. 

As the world focuses on the violence unleashed in Israel and Hamas-controlled Gaza, Shtayyeh's comments shed light on what he described as a "very dangerous situation" in the West Bank. His statement came amid the ongoing war between the Palestinian military group Hamas and Israel.

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But why does the West Bank hold importance amid the Israel-Hamas war? History has it that both Hamas (which governs Gaza) and the Palestinian Authority (which rules West Bank) - want an independent Palestinian state. However, according to Reuters, Israel has said a Palestinian state must be demilitarized so as not to threaten Israel.

Now, in the interview, Shtayyeh emphasised that Netanyahu's strategy is to "annex the West Bank" and "kill every possibility of a future Palestinian state".

Since Hamas’ deadly mass incursion into southern Israel, Israeli forces have held the West Bank under a tight grip, closing crossings into the territory and checkpoints between cities, measures they say are aimed at preventing attacks, the Associated Press reported earlier. “Hamas militants are also present in the West Bank but largely operate underground because of Israel’s tight grip on the territory,” the report added.

'Dangerous situation' in West Bank right now

Violence has risen sharply in the West Bank since the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel. "The situation in the West Bank is a very dangerous situation...the reality is very tough," the Palestinian Prime Minister said earlier.

Death toll: As the violence in Gaza and Israel rages on, the situation in West Bank also remains grim. In the occupied West Bank, more than 110 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids since the war's start three weeks ago, news agency Associated Press reported. More than 1,900 have been wounded in the West Bank, according to health officials, mostly in raids by Israeli troops or in clashes with Israeli settlers.

Displaced: The report added that increased violence from Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank has prompted many Palestinians, particularly Bedouin communities, to flee. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories said Friday that settler violence in the West Bank has displaced more than 600 Palestinians, including 211 children.

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Clashes: the Palestinian health ministry was quoted as saying that the Israeli military stepped up arrest raids in the West Bank in pursuit of Hamas militants. It said dozens of Palestinians, including several minors, were killed, most in clashes with troops, but also during protests and in attacks by Jewish settlers.

Protests: Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated on Friday in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, where some expressed support for Hamas amid Israel's ongoing war against the militant group in Gaza. According to news agency AFP, the demonstrators chanted slogans including: "liberate Gaza" and "the people want the Al-Qassam Brigades" in reference to Hamas's armed wing. Others waved Hamas flags along with banners representing a range of Palestinian movements.

The demonstration was held hours after Israeli forces killed at least four Palestinians during a raid in the north of the occupied West Bank, with Hamas members among the dead.

Besides, Gaza and West Bank, East Jerusalem is also a bone of contention between Palestine and Israel. Palestinians want East Jerusalem, which includes sites sacred to Muslims, Jews and Christians, to be the capital of their state. Israel says Jerusalem should remain its "indivisible and eternal" capital.

(With inputs from agencies)