Israelis Fear Attack From Restive West Bank Will Spark Wider War
- Communities wary of falling victim to Oct. 7-style attacks
- Jewish settler violence stokes animosity in West Bank
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Almost a year after Hamas attacked southern Israel, triggering a punishing war in Gaza and upending regional geopolitics, concerns are growing that Palestinian militants could stage a similar incursion from the West Bank and provoke an even broader conflict.
“That’s a constant worry,” Shimon Zaraf, 50, a landscaper who doubles as an armed guard in the Israeli farming collective of Nitzanei Oz north of Tel Aviv, said as he surveyed the fenced-off scrubland between his village and the West Bank town of Tulkarm 400 meters (1,300 feet) away. “If someone manages to infiltrate, the psychological effect on our sense of safety will be intolerable.”