Israel has sent tanks into the occupied West Bank for the first time in 20 years, as the Israeli military escalates its offensive that has already displaced 40,000 Palestinians. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Palestinians living in the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps will not be allowed to return to their homes. On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the occupied West Bank and was photographed holding a meeting inside a Palestinian home that had been seized by the Israeli military. On Saturday, Israeli forces fatally shot two Palestinian children — one 12, the other 13 — in separate incidents. “What we are seeing is an intensified campaign aimed at annexation of the West Bank,” says Mariam Barghouti, Palestinian writer and journalist based in Ramallah.
