The European Council on Foreign Relations has sounded a grave alarm over Israel’s escalating campaign in the West Bank, carried out largely unnoticed amid the focus on Israel-Iran tensions. While Gaza endures a brutal ethnic cleansing, Israel is intensifying its control over the West Bank through closures, demolition of Palestinian infrastructure, and illegal settlement expansion. This systematic crackdown is crushing any remaining hope for a just political resolution.

Since mid-June 2025, the Israeli occupation has imposed severe lockdowns across the West Bank, restricting the movement of over 3.2 million Palestinians by blocking town entrances and increasing military checkpoints. The “Iron Wall” operation, launched earlier this year, targets refugee camps with drone strikes and air raids, displacing more than 40,000 people, as part of a broader “Greater Israel” plan to annex the entire West Bank and forcibly expel Palestinians.

The report sharply criticises the European Union’s largely passive response, with only verbal condemnations so far, hindered by member states like Hungary that protect Israel diplomatically. However, an upcoming EU review of Israel’s compliance with human rights under the EU-Israel partnership agreement could pave the way for sanctions and trade restrictions against companies involved in illegal settlements.

The ECFR warns that Israel’s settlement expansion and economic strangulation are weakening the Palestinian Authority and deepening the crisis, risking renewed armed resistance and regional instability, particularly for neighbouring Jordan, which fears further displacement waves. The report stresses that these actions dismantle the two-state solution and entrench an apartheid regime.

Ultimately, the Council calls on the European Union to take decisive action to hold Israel accountable under international law, halt its attacks, and stop the forced displacement of Palestinians. Failure to do so would undermine the EU’s credibility as the humanitarian crisis worsens and the threat of wider conflict grows.