❗️Annexation of West Bank accelerating as Israel leverages war on Iran

As the US-Israeli war on Iran intensifies, the occupied West Bank is being carved up in real time through closures, raids, and a surge in settler violence, reinforcing fears that Israel is using the regional escalation to cement irreversible control. Since late February, at least 11 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers, with entire communities increasingly cut off as new barriers and military measures tighten the noose.

On the ground, the architecture of confinement is expanding. Iron gates now seal key roads such as the route between Deir Jarir and Silwad, where Israeli soldiers alone control movement, opening and closing crossings at will. In nearby Sinjil, a five meter high fence has turned the town into an open air prison, trapping thousands of residents. Across the territory, hundreds of checkpoints and roadblocks have immobilized daily life, delaying ambulances, severing access to work and education, and isolating families from one another. At the same time, mass raids and arrests have swept through Palestinian towns, while in occupied East Jerusalem, Al Aqsa Mosque has remained closed for weeks during Ramadan under heavy military restrictions.

While Palestinians are confined, Israeli settlers move freely and are escalating attacks under military protection. Deadly raids in villages north of Ramallah and in the South Hebron Hills left multiple Palestinians killed in a matter of hours. Behind the violence, new measures approved by Israel’s security cabinet are quietly redrawing the legal and administrative map of the occupied West Bank, extending Israeli control into areas previously under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction and easing land acquisition that paves the way for expanded settlements. With international attention diverted to Iran, and even Washington shifting policy to engage settlements directly, the conditions are being set for what many see as a final push to formalize annexation.