War in the West Bank was planned before Hamas‘s attack on 7 October last year, a senior Fatah member with close links to security circles told me.

It was postponed by the Gaza war, but also refined and honed by it.

When Israel saw just how much Palestinian blood the US and Europe were prepared to tolerate in Gaza – how much destruction, how many millions would be continually displaced, and for how long – Israel felt emboldened to visit the same hell on its real target: the occupied West Bank.