West Bank: Israeli army prepares for Jewish holidays

Following growing tensions in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military is preparing reinforcements ahead of Jewish high holidays, according to Asharq Al Awsat and agencies on August 27th.

Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said on August 27th that he was preparing to reinforce Israeli troops in the West Bank ahead of the holiday season, which starts with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, in mid-September.

Zamir said: “Given the tensions in Judea and Samaria and the upcoming holiday period, I am ordering the elevation of readiness of an additional division headquarters [to] reinforce the forces in the area.”

“Judea and Samaria” are biblical terms for the West Bank, which Israel has long sought to annex to expand illegal Jewish-only settlements.

This announcement comes as Jewish settler violence reaches record levels; violence has increased dramatically since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.

Under the “Greater Israel” plan, Israel envisions expanding its borders to fully encompass the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, Syria’s Golan Heights, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, parts of Jordan and Lebanon.

An estimated 700,000 Jewish settlers reside in the West Bank and East Jerusalem; a further 25,000 reside in the Golan Heights, and there is a growing settler and military presence in Lebanon.

This presence is expected to increase with the construction of 3,400 housing units under the “E1” settlement plan just east of Jerusalem, connecting the West Bank’s Maale Adumim settlement to those in East Jerusalem.

“E1” would annex 82% of the West Bank, leaving six isolated Palestinian enclaves outside of Israeli jurisdiction.

It would destroy the possibility of a territorially contiguous Palestinian state by severing East Jerusalem from Palestinian territory, undermining the possibility of a two-state solution.

On June 12th, it was reported that Israel planned to establish a permanent military base in the West Bank’s Jenin region, marking the first such installation in an area under Palestinian Authority civil and security control since the 1993 Oslo Accords.

In January, the Israeli military announced plans to arm Jewish settlers to bolster its forces in the northern West Bank permanently.

In December 2025, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced plans to establish Nahal settlements in northern Gaza, which are designed to encourage Haredi Jews to enlist.

Jewish settlers have sought to reestablish settlements in Gaza, which were dismantled in 2005 under then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan.

Asharq Al Awsat and agencies, Maghrebi.org