Israel may be unable to thwart Palestinian resistance, warn Israeli military commentators

Israel's incoming government may struggle to quell attacks by lone Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, Israeli military commentators warned this week.

While election winner Benjamin Netanyahu works on putting together a government expected to include politicians from the extreme right, analysts writing for various Israeli outlets said attacks on Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank are increasingly being conducted by individuals rather than organised groups, making them more difficult to thwart.

The comments came as three Israelis were killed in a stabbing and car-ramming attack by a teenage Palestinian at a settlement in the north of the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. 

The year 2022 has been among the most deadly in recent memory in the West Bank, with Israeli forces regularly killing and injuring Palestinians in frequent daily raids in the occupied territory.

A number of new militant groups have sprung up in response to the raids, including the multi-factional Lions’ Den.

But while Israeli forces have been able to somewhat limit these groups, attacks by individual Palestinians persist, the commentators said.

Amos Harel, military commentator for Haaretz, said in a piece published on Tuesday that the individual attacks conducted in recent weeks could be described as "part of the new reality, which may be long-term." 

Harel said Netanyahu's government would need to follow through on the aggressive rhetoric over the attacks that it employed while in opposition.

He also called for harsher penalties on Palestinian assailants - even though many are shot dead at the scene of attacks or have their homes demolished by Israel in a form of collective punishment widely condemned by rights grup.

Yossi Yashua, a military commentator for Yedioth Ahronoth, said that with all available regular combat forces already present in the West Bank, it would be risky and economically costly for Israel to recruit and deploy reserve forces to the territory.