Meanwhile in the West Bank, Every Israeli Soldier 'Does Whatever He Wants'
Thursday, August 14, 2025 at 04:10PM by Amira Hass 14 August 2025 Haaretz
In July alone, the Israeli army conducted over 1,300 raids on Palestinian neighborhoods. Residents endure constant harassments, knowing every soldier acts with impunity, and no one will intervene. 'We see that every soldier behaves like a commander, doing whatever he wants, with no fear of higher rank'
The arrest of a Palestinian in Tulkarm in July. Raids are a major part of the daily reality of forced Israeli ruleCredit: Majdi Mohammad / AP
Hind and Abir (not their real names), two women from different parts of the West Bank, have never met. In early July, soldiers raided Hind's home; in early June, they raided Abir's. From Hind's house, they took over 10,000 shekels (about $3,000), leaving her an official document citing the British Mandate-era Emergency Defense Regulations of 1945 and IDF Order 1651 (2009) on security provisions as justification. They provided no evidence for their claim that the money was linked to an unlawful association.
From Abir's home, they took gold jewelry and cash, without leaving any documentation at all. Testimony from multiple sources indicates these are not isolated incidents.
Both women have sons who either once received or currently receive a salary from the Palestinian Authority: one was a clerk, the other works in the PA's security services. Both women refused to be interviewed or give detailed testimony for the same reason we repeatedly hear from field researchers from human rights organizations such as the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC, based in Ramallah) and the Israeli NGO Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights: fear of retaliation by soldiers once their names are made public.
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That retaliation, they believe, could include another break-in, harsher violence, or harassment of them and their families at army checkpoints. Some say they "know this happened" to a neighbor or relative. Even if such stories are unverified, the rumors themselves have a chilling effect.
In terms of public attention – Israeli and Palestinian – these raids rank low, overshadowed by the unfolding disaster in Gaza and the destruction and expulsion in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps. Yet raids remain a major part of the daily reality of forced Israeli rule. Each one, whether considered alone or together with others, is tied to broader political and military decisions by the Israeli authorities.
A 60-year-old resident of the town of Ya'bad described two days in late June when soldiers occupied several residential buildings, broke into 113 homes, and – according to testimony – stole cash and property without leaving the "receipt" Palestinians sometimes receive.
"In the past, all the soldiers listened to the officer and acted according to his orders," a 60-year-old resident of the town of Ya'bad commented after the two days in late June when soldiers occupied several residential buildings, broke into 113 homes, and – according to testimony – stole cash and property without leaving the "receipt" Palestinians sometimes receive. "Today," he continued, "we see that every soldier behaves like a commander, doing whatever he wants, with no fear of higher rank. Back then, we could start some sort of dialogue with the officer. Today, that's impossible."
Older residents of the Balata refugee camp drew a similar conclusion. Their impression aligns with the findings of Yesh Din, which says that today "there's no one to call" within the military when reports come in about soldier behavior that should be considered unacceptable even by the IDF's own standards. "There's no one to turn to on the ground – only after the fact. No one sees it as their role to stop something or intervene in real time," says attorney Roni Pelli of Yesh Din.
THE SPIRIT OF COMMANDER BEZALEL SMOTRICH
The behavior of soldiers and junior officers is closely tied to overall policy, say Palestinians who monitor the army's conduct. Issam Aruri, general director of JLAC, links the multiple reports of soldiers allegedly confiscating and stealing money from Palestinian homes to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's declared intention to undermine the Palestinian Authority's economy to the point of collapse. In such a climate, the "spirit of the commander" is enough. No written order is required.
Since October 2023, most Palestinians who worked in Israel have lost their jobs due to tightened exit restrictions. This has increased dependence on a family breadwinner working inside the West Bank– either in the severely weakened private sector or in the public sector. Since April this year, Israel has not transferred to the Palestinian treasury any portion of the customs and tax revenues it collects at its ports on goods intended for the Palestinian market.
"There's no one to turn to on the ground – only after the fact. No one sees it as their role to stop something or intervene in real time."
Attorney Roni Pelli of Yesh Din
These revenues are a key part of the PA's budget. Since 2019, Israel has not transferred the full amount stipulated in the Paris Protocol and the Oslo Accords, leaving public-sector employees with only partial salaries. According to the economic update of MAS, the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, salaries in April and May reached just 35 percent of their original value – a rate even lower than usual.
The main reason for withholding the funds is the allowances the PA pays to prisoners' families and to released prisoners, under a law that Mahmoud Abbas repealed in February this year. Another is the money the PA allocates to residents of Gaza, for which Smotrich ordered an equivalent amount to be deducted from the customs revenues.
Many Palestinians – especially in villages – still keep cash at home, according to residents whose money was confiscated by soldiers. This practice has cultural and social roots: distrust of banks and digital transactions, daily-wage employment, Israeli employers who pay in cash, a market open to Palestinian citizens of Israel, and fear of Israeli measures that might threaten savings.
Another factor is the Bank of Israel's refusal to accept surplus shekels from Palestinian banks and convert them to foreign currency beyond a fixed quota set by the Paris Protocol, which is outdated. The banks literally have no place to store all the bills and coins, so they limit the amount of shekels that Palestinians can deposit in their account.
As a result, Bank of Israel policy – which follows the finance minister's agenda – enables soldiers raiding Palestinian homes to search for and seize substantial amounts of cash. Since soldiers are not required to present evidence that the money is linked to an "unlawful association," Palestinians conclude that the only real pretext is that a family member was, or still is, a prisoner qualified for an allowance.
Some residents say that the soldiers hinted at this connection when they confiscated cash in the house. If true, Palestinians are effectively being punished twice for these allowances: once through the grab of public funds, and again when money kept at home is taken. Some of them have lost their jobs after new roadblocks were set up on roads near their place of work – usually where settlements and outposts are built in the area. Confiscating household savings adds another form of punishment without trial.
Still, Ziyad Rustum, from the village of Kafr Malik east of Ramallah – a former prisoner who says soldiers took cash and valuables from his home without giving documentation – told Haaretz that such seizures are "nothing compared to our land, which settlers violently seize and which the army does not allow us to cultivate."
Amjad Atatra, mayor of Ya'bad west of Jenin, made the same connection between the thefts discovered by residents after soldiers withdrew at the end of June and access to land. "There have always been confiscations, looting, and violence during raids," he said, "but now it's on a much larger scale."
Atatra's impression of the two days when his town was invaded in June is that "the aims of the military incursions have changed. Before, you could say they had security-military reasons, detaining one or two people. Today the army often comes in for no reason, not for arrests but to destroy."
The raid statistics underscore the point: in June, there were 2,117 incidents; in July, 1,348. In the same months of 2023, there were 705 and 673 respectively; in 2022, 537 and 410.
Each raid is so much more than its sterile report. Whether day or night, it may end with soldiers breaking into homes or "only" making a domineering drive down a main street, accompanied by gunfire or the throwing of stun and gas grenades – or not; soldiers beating household members – or not; children waking up crying to the sight of a cocked rifle, or being roused by their parents beforehand. In every case, it's always upsetting and disrupts the daily routine.
The showy nature of many raids (including seizing homes and raising Israeli flags in or near them) strikes Breaking the Silence executive director Nadav Weiman as deliberate displays of dominance, a message of "you'd better watch out." Extended military presence in Palestinian neighborhoods and homes for hours at a time, he said, is about "taking the friction to their side, to the Palestinians."
There have always been confiscations, looting, and violence during raids. But now, it's on a much larger scale.
Amjad Atatra, mayor of Ya'bad
The soldiers are not only positioned on roads used by settlers, guarding settlements or standing nearby; they are sent into Palestinian villages and neighborhoods, creating the potential for confrontation. The ultimate aim, Weiman says, is to make settlers feel as comfortable as possible.
STATISTICS WRITTEN IN BLOOD
The Palestinian Monitoring Group, part of the PLO's Negotiations Affairs Department, keeps a daily and monthly log of raids. It draws mainly on Palestinian security service reports and media accounts. The categories include killings, injuries, arrests, gunfire, surprise checkpoints and roadblocks, land confiscation, property destruction, assaults on medical teams, damage to religious sites, expulsions, seizures, interference with Palestinian security forces, settlement construction, and attacks by settlers.
In June 2022, the group recorded 2,162 occupation-related incidents in Gaza and the West Bank; in July, 1,772. Since late 2023, for obvious reasons, the figures have been tallied separately for the West Bank and Gaza. This June saw 3,549 such incidents in the West Bank alone and in July – 3,797 incidents.
Palestinian youths lift their shirts in Jenin last year. Soldiers are not stationed only on roads used by settlers or guarding settlements. They are also sent deep into Palestinian villages and neighborhoods.Credit: Zain Jaafar / AFP
Taken together, the number of incidents – and the patterns linking their types and severity – reveal the relentless scale of Israeli invasion into Palestinian life, hour by hour, day after day.
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