The West Bank emerges as Israel’s biggest counterterrorism success since October 7 - opinion

Hillel Frisch argues that Israel's offensive strategy in the West Bank has sharply reduced terrorism, with six Israelis killed in 2026 versus 46 in 2024 and 43 in 2023, and a 42% drop in wounded from attacks. He credits a 2024 shift to permanently occupying refugee camps, iron-fist policies, and harsher prison conditions.

In an opinion piece, Hillel Frisch, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and professor emeritus at Bar-Ilan University, argues that Israel's counterterrorism strategy in the West Bank has been its biggest success since October 7, 2023. He cites a sharp decline in terrorism: six Israelis killed so far in 2026, compared to 46 in 2024 and 43 in 2023, and a 42% drop in wounded from attacks between 2024 and 2025. Frisch attributes this to a 2024 strategic shift from nightly incursions to permanently occupying refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nablus, where local militant units were systematically destroyed. He also credits iron-fist policies including shooting at rock-throwers, and harsher prison conditions acknowledged by Hamas spokesmen. The piece contrasts this with achievements against Hezbollah, Iran, and Hamas in Gaza, and notes that peace accords with Egypt, UAE, Jordan, Morocco, and Bahrain remain intact. The framing relies on emotionally charged vocabulary without procedural sourcing.