Armed Israeli settlers stormed the Bedouin village of Ras Ein al-Auja, near Jericho in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, damaging property and threatening Palestinians.
Hassan Mleihat, coordinator of the al-Baydar Organisation for the Defence of Bedouin Rights, said groups of settlers entered the village with herds of sheep, grazing them near Palestinian homes. They also damaged private property and tried to block villagers from accessing their land.
"Settler attacks on Bedouin communities have sharply escalated and now target every aspect of Bedouin life," Mleihat told local media.
The assault on Ras Ein al-Auja comes as part of a broader wave of settler aggression across the West Bank, targeting the northern Jordan Valley, where settlers also looted water pumps and destroyed farmland in the Palestinian village of Khirbet al-Deir.
Since Israel's war on Gaza, settler violence has reached unprecedented levels, with the establishment of 60 new illegal outposts across the West Bank and 51 of them since the start of 2024.
The fresh wave of attacks has displaced at least 2,000 Palestinians, according to the Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission. Thousands of Palestinian families have been forced to flee, with 29 villages abandoned in the wake of settler and army raids.
Recent footage released by Israeli rights group Yesh Din showed Israeli forces protecting illegal settlers as they erected a new illegal outpost near the Palestinian village of Turmusaya. Soldiers guarded construction crews and equipment while settlers moved mobile homes into the area.
"In an operation that appears to have been planned in advance, the army is once again collaborating with settlers to establish illegal farm outposts, which are used to violently expel Palestinians under the auspices of the state," Yesh Din said in a statement.
Despite these outposts being classified as illegal under Israeli law, state institutions back them through funding and logistical support, and the Israeli government has increasingly moved to retroactively legalise these settlements rather than dismantle them.
Israel’s far-right government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, has overseen a surge in settler activity since taking office in late 2022, with daily attacks on Palestinian property, arson, and land theft reported across the occupied West Bank.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have continued their violent campaign in the territory, with over 950 Palestinians killed and more than 7,000 wounded since October 2023.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the dismantling of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel has rejected the ruling, and no action has been taken on the ground.