At least nine Palestinians killed in Israeli raid on West Bank cities

Israel fears the West Bank is spiraling out of controlpublished at 12:46 British Summer Time

12:46 CEST

Paul Adams
Diplomatic Correspondent

This morning's large, multi-pronged operation in the West Bank is the latest sign that Israel fears the region could spiral out of control.

Even before the outbreak of the Gaza war last October, Israel was confronted with a new generation of armed groups, especially in Jenin.

But fighting is currently raging in numerous refugee camps in the northern part of the West Bank, including the camps that were attacked today.

“It's like a cancer. It's spreading,” General Israel Ziv, the former head of the Israel Defense Forces' operations department, told me earlier this month.

“There is no doubt that the intensity in Samaria (Israel's name for the northern part of the West Bank) now matches or even exceeds the intensity of the war in Gaza.”

Israel views the emergence of the new armed groups as part of Iran's efforts to keep Israel busy on as many fronts as possible.

According to official sources, Tehran is responsible for financing and, in some cases, arming the militants (via smuggling routes through Syria and Jordan).

“This is 100% an Iranian attempt to establish a proxy power in Samaria,” said General Ziv.

So far, the Israeli military has had the situation more or less under control.

But the Israeli forces' more aggressive tactics – which include airstrikes, highly destructive raids on refugee camps and a rising number of civilian deaths – risk turning the armed groups into local heroes as more young Palestinians become willing to enlist.

Add to this the Israeli government's recent efforts to create new Jewish settlements throughout the West Bank, as well as the increasingly violent behavior of some Jewish settlers, and an increasingly explosive atmosphere is emerging.

“We definitely do not have the escalation there under control,” said General Ziv.