JERUSALEM 

The Israeli finance minister threatened to destroy cities, neighborhoods and Palestinian camps in the northern occupied West Bank on Thursday, similar to what the army has done in the Gaza Strip. 

"Our message to the residents of Tulkarem, the Shuweikha neighborhood, and (refugee camp) Nour al-Shams, and the city of Qalqilya, we will turn you into destroyed cities as happened in the Gaza Strip if … terrorism” is practiced against the settlements, Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism wrote on X.

He threatened to “continue to control Judea and Samaria,” the biblical term for the occupied West Bank.

Addressing Israeli citizens, he claimed that “if a Palestinian state is allowed to be established, settlements in the West Bank could be subjected to a similar attack” to one launched by Palestinian factions on Israeli military bases and settlements adjacent to Gaza on Oct. 7.

The extremist minister emphasized his rejection of the establishment of a Palestinian state, saying that "it will not happen."

The Religious Zionism party supports settlements in Palestinian territories.

The Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, revealed a plan by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to displace Palestinian shepherds from their lands in the occupied West Bank.

It said the plan is being executed in collaboration with illegal Israeli settlers and is part of the "Israeli apartheid regime."

“In February and March 2024, B'Tselem documented some 20 incidents in which Israeli settlers and soldiers drove Palestinian shepherds out of pastureland in the South Hebron Hills,” it said in a statement.

Tensions have been running high across the West Bank since Israel launched a deadly military offensive against Gaza following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 519 Palestinians have since been killed and over 4,900 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala​​​​​​​