On Sunday, February 23, Israel deployed tanks in the occupied West Bank for the first time in more than two decades. It was the latest in a series of bellicose stunts that escalated in January, in tandem with the implementation of the tenuous ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.

Of course, the inherently long-term nature of Israel’s genocidal policy in Gaza means that any ceasefire is inevitably temporary. In the 15-month assault on the Palestinian enclave that began in October 2023, the Israeli military officially killed at least 48,365 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children – although the true death toll is undoubtedly far higher. Most of Gaza’s inhabitants were displaced by the Israeli onslaught, many of them more than once.

Now, The Times of Israel reports that more than 40,100 Palestinians in West Bank refugee camps like Jenin have “fled their homes” since January 21, which is “allegedly the largest displacement in the territory since the Six Day War in 1967”. And on Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the army to prepare for an “extended presence in the cleared camps for the next year, and not to allow the return of residents”.

Anyway, there’s nothing like ethnic cleansing to pave the way for annexation, the chief fantasy of the Israeli right wing. The thoroughly illegal scheme may also soon be receiving an explicit endorsement from United States President Donald Trump, who........

© Al Jazeera