Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli border guards in Tulkarem, a town in the western part of the occupied West Bank, very close to Israeli territory, on Friday, October 13. They were attempting to blow a hole through the security barrier. Were they inspired by the attack by Hamas, which a week earlier had broken through the defenses surrounding Gaza, one of the most heavily guarded zones in the world? On October 7, for a few hours, Palestinian fighters seized military bases and wreaked havoc on the civilian population, killing over 1,300 people.
A total of 16 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army on Friday, dubbed the "Day of Rage." In the space of a week, clashes with the army or Israeli settlers have claimed more than 50 lives. Demonstrations took place throughout the West Bank, from the south in Hebron to the north in Nablus, as well as in Ramallah on Friday, injuring dozens. In Jerusalem, young people tried unsuccessfully to force their way through a police roadblock blocking access to the Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site and a Palestinian national symbol, on this day of prayer. The Israeli authorities restricted access to the esplanade to men over the age of 55. Clashes ensued in the alleys of the Old City and in the Palestinian neighborhoods of Wadi Joz and Issawiya in East Jerusalem, which were sealed off by Israeli security forces.
This day of prayer was the culmination of a week of high tensions in the West Bank. Israeli forces have stepped up surveillance. The roads have emptied. There is a massive presence of soldiers at all checkpoints, placed at strategic intersections in this occupied and fragmented territory. Some roads are closed to Israeli traffic, such as the passage through the town of Huwara. This Palestinian town, close to Nablus, has been the scene of numerous incidents in recent months, from terrorist attacks on settlers to reprisals by the latter, leading to the ransacking and burning of part of the town. In February, the head of the Israeli army's Central Command, Yehuda Fuchs, described these incidents as a "pogrom" against the Palestinians. Simply approaching the checkpoint that closes off the road is tantamount to being held at gunpoint by the soldiers, sheltering behind their cement blocks.
The Hamas invasion of southern Israel seems to have been the epicenter of an earthquake whose repercussions are felt throughout the West Bank, and which the massively deployed Israeli forces are trying to keep under control. In cafés or inside their homes, Palestinians are glued to their TV screens or mobile phones, watching live as the Israeli army raids the Gaza Strip on an unprecedented scale. Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in less than a week, including some 600 children, almost the death toll of the six weeks of fighting during the 2014 war between Israel and Gaza, which left some 2,300 dead.
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