On 21 January 2025, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began a large-scale military operation, which it named "Iron Wall", against Palestinian militants in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Initially, Israel's operation only targeted the Jenin Brigades, a local Palestinian militia in Jenin. On the fourth day, the IDF expanded its activities to Tulkarm and other Palestinian cities and towns. Iron Wall marks a strategically distinct and more aggressive approach against West Bank militancy compared to previous Israeli operations, and also marks the first time that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has directly participated in an Israeli military operation.
The IDF stated that the aims of Iron Wall are to preserve its "freedom of action" in the West Bank, to neutralize militant infrastructure, and to eliminate imminent threats. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said the operation is an action against the "Iranian axis", referring to the Iranian support of West Bank militants, and Israeli far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said it marks the start of a campaign to protect Israeli settlements in the occupied region. Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said it marks a shift in the IDF's security plan in the West Bank and was "the first lesson from the method of repeated raids in Gaza", later clarifying that Israeli forces planned to maintain a long-term military presence in Jenin beyond the operation's conclusion. In August 2025, Katz stated the IDF would remain deployed to refugee camps in the northern West Bank at least until the end of the year.
Compared to Israel's last West Bank operation in 2024, Iron Wall has reportedly been yielding operational success. Israeli forces have seized control of the Jenin refugee camp, Nur Shams, and the refugee camp in Tulkarm, clearing them from militants and depopulating them by the end of February. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been forced to leave their homes due to the operation, with the rate of displacement being the highest since the 1967 Palestinian expulsions. According to UNRWA, Iron Wall is "the longest and most destructive" Israeli operation since the Second Intifada.
Background The Israeli operation followed several related developments in the region. On 19 January, the Gaza war ceasefire was implemented, halting fighting in the Gaza Strip. On 20 January, American president Donald Trump was inaugurated for the second time and later issued an executive order rescinding sanctions against some Israeli settlers and settler groups accused of anti-Palestinian violence in the West Bank. That same day, a mob of Israeli settlers raided several Palestinian towns in protest against the Gaza ceasefire, until being dispersed by the IDF.
PA operation in Jenin
In Jenin specifically, the security services of the PA had been conducting an operation against the Jenin Brigades since December 2024. Both sides signed a truce on 17 January 2025, but the deal fell through and fighting resumed two days later. The IDF initiated its operations due to the PA's operation eventually being deemed insufficient, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Timeline 2025 January On 21 January, the operation began with drone strikes on militant infrastructure, and large numbers of IDF troops, including special forces, as well as Shin Bet agents and Border Police officers, were deployed into Jenin. Palestinian sources also reported the participation of Israeli warplanes and armored vehicles, including bulldozers. Palestinian Authority forces withdrew from their positions in Jenin as the IDF entered the city. According to the PA, the Israeli operation caught them by surprise and members of its forces were killed by Israeli fire. According to Israel, however, the PA was informed of the decision to enter Jenin beforehand, and PA forces withdrew to allow the IDF to proceed with their operations. The IDF also encircled Al-Amal, a local private hospital.
On 22 January, Israeli forces released as many as 600 people who had been detained overnight inside the Jenin Governmental Hospital, according to the mayor of Jenin. Palestinian Authority forces stormed the Al-Razi hospital and arrested a man said to be a Jenin Brigades militant, marking the first ever time that PA forces have participated in an Israeli raid in the West Bank. In Burqin, near Jenin, Israeli forces killed two militants that had carried out an attack against Israelis earlier in the month.
On 23 January, hundreds of Palestinians from the Jenin camp began leaving their homes after Israeli forces issued an evacuation order. PA forces arrested the Al Jazeera journalist Mohammed al-Atrash, who was attempting to cover the Israeli operation in Jenin.
On 24 January, Israeli forces blocked four main entrances to Jenin with earth mounds, preventing entry and exit, and set fire to residences in the Jenin refugee camp. In Yabad, west of Jenin, PA forces arrested and beat up a number of militants. Furthermore, joint Israeli–PA raids were reported in Tulkarm, Ramallah, Hebron and Qalqilya.
On 26 January, the IDF reported it had destroyed a bomb-making laboratory in Jenin.
On 27 January, the Iron Wall operation officially expanded to Tulkarm Governorate. The Israeli Air Force struck and killed Tulkarm's local Hamas commander Ihab Atwi and another militant in the Nur Shams refugee camp, and fighting broke out in Tulkarm between militants and Israeli forces on the ground. On 29 January, Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said that Israeli forces planned to remain in Jenin indefinitely, even after the operation is concluded. This would mark the first time since the Second Intifada that Israeli forces are stationed in a Palestinian city for an extended period of time.
February On 1 February, Israeli forces raided Nablus and the adjacent Balata refugee camp.
On 2 February, the IDF conducted a series of massive detonations in Jenin, stating it destroyed 23 buildings being used as "militant infrastructure". Israeli forces also expanded their operation into Tammun, closing the main road in the town.
On 3 February, the governor of Tulkarm Governorate, Abdullah Kamil, reported that half of the population of Tulkarm fled and that hospitals are being sieged, and residences were being attacked by Israeli forces.
On 4 February, a Palestinian gunman attacked an Israeli checkpoint in the village of Tayasir, north of Tubas, killing two IDF soldiers and wounding another eight. Additionally, PA forces clashed with militants in eastern Jenin.
On 9 February, Israeli forces surrounded and attacked the Nur Shams camp. The Tulkarm Brigade said it successfully ambushed a group of IDF soldiers inside the camp.
On 18 February, A Palestinian official said that Israeli forces demolished more than a dozen apartment buildings inside the Tulkarm refugee camp.
On 20 February, three empty Israeli buses exploded in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv; no one was harmed. Israeli police commander Haim Sargarof said the devices used to set off the blasts were similar to those used by West Bank militants. One of the unexploded mechanisms carried a message saying "Revenge from Tulkarm"; the Tulkarm Brigade released a statement that said "Revenge for the martyrs will not be forgotten as long as the occupier sits on our land", but did not explicitly claim responsibility for the attack. The Shin Bet said that the attack was directed by Iran and carried out by Hamas.
On 21 February, following the bus bombings, Netanyahu ordered an intensification of the operation in the West Bank, and the IDF said it would deploy three more battalions to the region.
On 23 February, the IDF deployed three Merkava tanks from the 188th Armored Brigade to Jenin, marking the first time since Operation Defensive Shield that Israeli tanks operated in the West Bank.
March On 4 March, the IDF said they killed Aysar al-Saadi, a Hamas commander in Jenin, in a shootout.
On 6 March, the IDF rescued 10 Indian workers who had been forcibly held by Palestinians in the village of al-Zaayem for over a month; the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority reported that the workers had traveled to Israel for construction jobs but were lured to the village with false promises of employment by Palestinians, who took their passports to attempt illegal entry into Israel.
On 7 March, the IDF targeted and damaged six mosques in Nablus, including the historical landmark An-Nasr Mosque, which was partially burned. Local officials condemned the attacks.
On 8 March, militants targeted an Israeli civilian vehicle traveling near Nabi Ilyas with Molotov cocktails.
On 10 March, PA forces in Jenin killed the prominent Jenin Brigades militant Abdul Rahman Abu Al-Muna.
On 12 March, a militant shot and injured an 18-year-old Israeli near the Ariel settlement. Hamas claimed responsibility and said that it was a response to Israeli military actions in the West Bank.
On 21 March, near the Dolev settlement, a militant carried out a shooting attack targeting an Israeli bus and a Magen David Adom ambulance, after which he engaged in an hours-long exchange of fire with the IDF; eventually, he was killed with a helicopter strike. The attacks resulted in several casualties.
April On 2 April, the IDF and the Shin Bet released a joint statement reporting a significant decrease in militant attacks in the West Bank during Ramadan 2025, compared to Ramadan 2024, and credited the decline to the Iron Wall operation. Additionally, the IDF raided the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, and distributed leaflets warning residents that they could be displaced like the Palestinians in the northern West Bank.
On 9 April, the IDF began a large-scale raid of the Balata camp.
On 20 April, a Palestinian gunman opened fire at Israeli soldiers outside the Homesh outpost and was killed by return fire. No injuries among the Israelis were reported. Hamas applauded the shooting but did not explicitly take responsibility.
On 24 April, the IDF, Shin Bet, and the Israeli Border Police conducted a joint raid in the Balata camp to arrest the head of a militant cell and another operative. During the raid, the Israeli forces fired on Palestinian rioters that had confronted them.
On 30 April, two IDF reservists were injured by a bomb attack near the town of Beita southeast of Nablus.
May On 7 May, a gunman opened fire on Israeli forces at the Reihan checkpoint, causing injuries. The same day, in Hebron, another militant attempted a car-ramming attack against IDF troops and then began stabbing soldiers. The combined attacks injured three soldiers in total.
On 9 May, IDF troops operating in Nablus killed Nour Abdel Karim al-Bitawi, the commander of the Jenin Brigades.
On 13 May, PA forces killed two Palestinians, a man in the Far'a refugee camp in Tubas and an elderly man in eastern Jenin. Both victims were similarly shot in the head while in their cars. A young girl was also injured by shrapnel resulting from the shooting. In response, Hamas condemned the killings and accused the PA of "unpatriotic practices."
On 14 May, a gunman shot two Israelis, a man and his pregnant wife, near the Bruchin settlement. They had been en route to a hospital for the woman to give birth; she died from her injuries but the baby was saved via C-section. Afterwards, the IDF began besieging the Palestinian villages of Burqin and Kafr al-Dik as they looked for the shooter, and two Israeli settler attacks against Palestinian properties nearby appear to have been carried out in retaliation.