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January 28, 2025 Special Dispatch No. 11799

Hamas Attempts To Foment Violence In The West Bank, Threatens To Wage 'Long And Brutal' War, Backs Jenin Brigade Terror Militia, Calls For Terror Attacks

January 28, 2025
Palestinians | Special Dispatch No. 11799

On the backdrop of the Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas,[1] the threat of terrorism against Israel from the West Bank continues to increase. Unaffiliated terrorist militias in the West Bank,[2] comprising members from various terrorist groups – including Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and others – have been increasingly active, aiming to undermine the Palestinian Authority (PA) and to carry out terror attacks against Israel.

Hamas, which views the West Bank as another front in the war against Israel,[3] and whose fighters are members of various West Bank terror militias, has been taking advantage of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to incite its members and other Palestinians in the West Bank to escalate the conflict with Israel and to carry out terror attacks. In a January 15, 2025 speech after the Gaza ceasefire was declared, Khalil Al-Hayya, the leader of Hamas' Gaza branch, saluted "our youth who are rising up in the West Bank – especially in the Jenin [refugee] camp, [which is a symbol of] heroism."[4] Senior Hamas official Hussam Badran predicted that a "crucial" and "long and brutal" war will take place in the West Bank.[5] Abu Obeida, the spokesman of Hamas' military wing, the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, also called on Palestinians in the West Bank to join the struggle against Israel and to escalate the conflict against it.[6]

In addition, Hamas has praised the January 21, 2025 Tel Aviv stabbing attack carried out by a tourist from Morocco two days after the Gaza ceasefire took effect, and called on "the residents of the West Bank to mobilize and increase their activity in resisting the occupation forces and the settler militias… using any possible means of resistance."[7]

Also noteworthy in this context is Hamas's support for the Jenin Brigade terror militia, which has recently escalated its operations against Israel and against the PA. Its anti-PA activities have in fact led the PA to launch a counterterrorism operation titled "Defense of the Homeland." This operation was aimed at reasserting the PA's rule in the Jenin governorate (and later in the rest of the northern West Bank) and foiling a coup against it on the part of the Jenin Brigade and the other Iran-aligned Palestinian terror groups in the area, particularly in the refugee camps.[8] However, despite the PA leadership's declarations and ambitious goals, this operation failed to bring about the defeat of the Jenin Brigade, and on January 21, 2025 Israel launched its own counterterrorism operation in the area, titled "Iron Wall."[9] Hamas officials have repeatedly praised the Jenin Brigade's operations against Israel, stressing that with the Gaza ceasefire in effect, the group now has increased responsibility to escalate operations against Israel. The officials have also called for escalation throughout the West Bank.

Moreover, Hamas has been encouraging terrorism in the West Bank by attempting to incite Jordanians to operate there. In a statement following the implementation of the ceasefire, Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida praised "the free Jordanian people, the self-sacrificing mujahideen who have breached the borders and aimed their weapons where they truly and rightly should be aimed [i.e., against Israel]."[10] This has been seen as a continuation of Hamas's efforts to undermine Jordan's stability and thereby advance the agendas of Iran and of the Muslim Brotherhood, with the goal of turning the country – against its will – into a base for terrorism against Israel.[11]

Hamas's attempt to foment violence in the West Bank is also manifest in statements calling for terrorist attacks that have been spread on Hamas-affiliated social media accounts.

As for the PA, whose security apparatuses have been acting to restrain the West Bank terror militias, it has been accusing Hamas of trying to spark a military conflict in the West Bank and to bring the security chaos of Gaza to it.

This report will provide an overview of Hamas's threats of increased terrorism against Israel from the West Bank, as well as the responses of the PA to these threats.

Hamas: Jenin Is Gaza's "Sister In Spirit"; We Call On Our People In The West Bank To Escalate The Confrontation With Israel

On January 18, 2025, the day after the signing of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, Hamas official Hussam Badran told the Al-Jazeera Al-Mubasher channel that "what is happening in the West Bank is a crucial campaign" and that "we understand that it will be long and brutal."[12] This statement recalls similar remarks made by Badran in the beginning of the war, in which he called for terror attacks against Israeli targets in the West Bank, saying: "The [West] Bank is the front most capable of aiding Gaza, before we request aid from outside... Anyone who has a weapon in the West Bank in an official capacity [i.e. in the PA security apparatuses] or in the resistance squads [i.e. in the terror militias and organizations] – you must act immediately.… Make the ground burn under the feet of the [Jewish] settlers."[13]

Furthermore, since the ceasefire in Gaza came into effect, Hamas' military wing, the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, has been threatening to carry out attacks against Israel from the West Bank in coordination with other terrorist organizations, while presenting the Jenin Brigade militia, comprising fighters from several organizations, as the ideal model.

Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida said on January 19, 2025 that the agreement in the Gaza Strip "places a greater responsibility on our people and our resistance in the occupied [West] Bank, which we greatly honor and congratulate. We esteem the brave and honorable steadfastness [displayed by] the [West] Bank heroes despite all the attempts to attack and eliminate [them]. We especially congratulate Jenin, a sister to Gaza in the spirit of courage and in stamina. Greetings to the resistance fighters of the [West] Bank and to its honorable, brave and steadfast residents, who are ready for battle,[14] and greetings to our resistance and jihad fighters in all the cities, villages and [refugee] camps of the beloved [West] Bank. We call on them to prepare to join the struggle against the enemy's dangerous and imminent plan and to escalate the confrontation with the criminal occupier and unite for this purpose."[15]   

A person in a military uniform

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Graphic on Hamas Telegram channel featuring Abu Obeida's call to arms directed at all the terror operatives in the West Bank (T.me/hamas_wb, January 19, 2025)

A close-up of a handshake

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Graphic on Telegram channel of Hamas' military wing quotes Abu Obeida's statement: "Special congratulations to Jenin, a sister to Gaza in the spirit of courage and in stamina" (T.me/qassambrigades, January 22, 2025)

Several days later, on January 23, Hamas' military wing conveyed a similar message as part of an announcement on the death of two of its operatives killed by Israel in Jenin. The announcement said: "The [Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam] Brigades stress that their jihad fighters – who risk their lives along with their brothers from all the [other] factions in the struggle against the criminal enemy in all the cities, villages and [refugee] camps of the [West] Bank – will deprive the enemy soldiers and settlers of their sense of security in all the [West] Bank settlements and in all the cities of the occupied interior [i.e., inside Israel]…"[16]

Israel's military operation against the terror organizations in Jenin intensified the prevailing tension between Hamas and the PA, especially since it followed an operation by the PA security apparatuses there that was seen by Hamas as collaboration with the enemy against the people of Jenin. A statement issued by Hamas on January 22 claimed that "the involvement of the PA apparatuses in the occupation's attack on the Jenin [refugee] camp is a crime against our people" and that the security coordination between the PA and Israel had "reached catastrophic levels." Consequently, the statement called to escalate the confrontation against Israel "at all the friction points, at the military checkpoints and in the [West] Bank settlements."[17] Hamas official Zaher Jabarin stressed that "the members of the PA security apparatuses must join their people in the struggle against the occupation, which does not distinguish between [one] Palestinian and the next…"[18]

Hamas-Affiliated Telegram Channel Incites Terror Against Israelis In The West Bank

Hamas' calls to ignite the West Bank and perpetrate terror against Israelis there also found expression on Hamas-affiliated social media accounts. For example, on January 15, the Mutarad ("Wanted") Telegram channel urged the people of the West Bank to carry out "high-quality operations" against Israeli targets, and a graphic posted on the channel called to carry out shootings and IED attacks on busses in the West Bank. [19]


Graphic on the Mutarad Telegram channel: "Set the roads aflame, prepare explosive charges and shake [the ground] beneath the settler concentrations" (T.me/westmutared, January 15, 2025)

On January 25 this channel repeated Hamas' call to come to the aid of the Jenin Brigade militia amid the Israeli military operation against it, writing: "We call on our [Palestinian] masses in the West Bank and on its rebelling youths to mobilize, one and all, and escalate the confrontation with the occupation army at all the friction points, [so as] to disrupt and thwart the comprehensive Zionist aggression against Jenin and its [refugee] camp… We praise the courage of the resistance fighters, and their readiness to wage battle against the occupation soldiers and to attack with explosive charges…"[20]   


Graphic on Mutarad Telegram channel: "The fighting Jenin [refugee] camp needs you to mobilize and support it – heed the call (T.me/westmutared, January 21, 2025)

A poster with two men running with guns

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Graphic on Mutarad Telegram channel echoes Hamas' call for "general mobilization" in the West Bank to help the Jenin terrorists (T.me/westmutared, January 21, 2025)

Fatah And PA: Hamas Is Trying To Transfer The Chaos To The West Bank

Fatah and the PA accused Hamas of trying to transfer the chaos from Gaza to the West Bank. Abd Al-Fattah Doleh, the spokesman for Fatah, the ruling party in the PA, said on January 22 that "Hamas exhibited unprecedented flexibility [in its ceasefire agreement with Israel, making] big concessions to the Israeli occupation in order to reach understandings that will safeguard its rule in the Gaza Strip, even at the expense of spilling the blood and sacrificing our people. But at the same time it insists on giving [Israel] every pretext to destroy the West Bank."

Another Fatah statement accused Hamas of "distorting the facts" regarding "Operation Homeland Defense" carried out by the PA security apparatuses in Jenin against the "ISIS-like operatives" there. It added that "these operatives and those who stand behind them, arm them and fund them, are acting to transfer the barbaric destruction and massacres of the Israeli occupation army [from Gaza to the West Bank]…"[21]

The January 23 editorial of the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reacted to statements made on Al-Jazeera by Hamas official Zaher Jabarin, who said, "We will defeat Netanyahu in the West Bank just as we defeated him in Gaza."[22]  The editorial called Jabarin's remark "arrogance with lots of populism," and added: "Indeed, those who have left the national fold have nothing [to offer] but the language of lies, false claims, [empty] shows of force, and fervent incitement against the PA. They have nothing but the loathsome language of internal strife, which the Al-Jazeera channel continues to promote and to praise in order to spread chaos in the Palestinian arena, tear its national fabric to pieces and promote the loss of security control [within it]…"[23]  

 

[2] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11507, The West Bank – A Ticking Time Bomb, August 14, 2024. It should be noted that, even during the fighting in Gaza, Hamas has threatened to infiltrate Israel from the West Bank in a fashion similar to its October 7, 2023 invasion and massacres in southern Israel. See: MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11523, Hamas And Other Terror Organizations: We Will Resume Blowing Up Buses In Tel Aviv, August 26, 2024; MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10965, Hamas Threatens To Repeat October 7 Attack In Or From West Bank, November 20, 2023.

[4] T.me/hamaswestbank1, January 15, 2025. On reactions to Al-Hayya's speech, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11790, Arab Journalists On Social Media Slam Hamas: Gaza Is In Ruins And Tens Of Thousands Have Been Killed. If This Is Victory, What Does Defeat Look Like?, January 21, 2025.

[5] Aljazeeramubasher.net, January 18, 2025.

[6] T.me/hamas_wb, January 19, 2025.

[7] T.me/islamickutla22, January 22, 2025.

[9] According to one report, the Israeli operation is coordinated with the PA. Qudspress.com, January 22, 2025.

[10] T.me/hamas_wb, January 19, 2025.

[12] Aljazeeramubasher.net, January 18, 2025.

[14] The Arabic term used here is murabitoun, namely those who are stationed on the frontlines of Islam, ready to fight the non-Muslims.

[15] T.me/hamas_wb, January 19, 2025.

[16] T.me/qassambrigades, January 23, 2025.

[17]  T.me/hamas_wb, January 22, 2025.

[18] Aljazeera.net, January 21, 2025.

[19] T.me/westmutaded, January 15, 2025.

[20] T.me/hamas_wb, t.me/westmutaded, January 21, 2025.

[21] Wafa.ps, January 22, 2025.

[22] Facebook.conm/AJA.Palestine, January 21, 2025.

[23] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), January 23, 2025.

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