Israeli settlers rampage across West Bank as army raids intensify

Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians have intensified across the occupied West Bank alongside expanded Israeli military raids and a renewed assault on Gaza, despite a US-brokered ceasefire.

In the latest incident, Israeli police arrested five settlers suspected of breaking into the home of a Palestinian shepherd in the southern West Bank overnight between Monday and Tuesday, in what appeared to be a rare and unusual intervention by Israeli authorities.

The settlers slaughtered the shepherd's sheep and assaulted other residents, an attack emblematic of the growing brutality faced by Palestinians across the West Bank.

The incident was one of several violent settler attacks reported on Monday, with assaults recorded from Jenin in the north to the Hebron area in the south.

Palestinians were injured in multiple locations amid what Israeli media itself has acknowledged as a sharp escalation in settler violence, often carried out with impunity.

In the northern West Bank village of Mukhmas, footage filmed on Monday afternoon showed masked settlers hurling stones at Palestinians and activists from the Israeli human rights group Torat Tzedek.

Rabbi Arik Ascherman, who leads the group, told The Times of Israel that settlers had smashed the windows of his vehicle during the assault.

On Sunday, three Palestinians were injured in another attack by settlers in the northern West Bank, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

PRCS said its crews had transported the injured to hospital after they were beaten by settlers in the village of Beit Lid, near Tulkarem.

Palestinian outlets reported the attack occurred between Beit Lid and Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqilya.

Outrage has also spread online over footage showing Israeli forces acting alongside settlers as they assaulted a Palestinian man during the demolition of a residential building in the Silwan neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem, near the Old City.

The demolition, carried out under Israel's discriminatory permit regime, displaced 13 Palestinian families, around 100 people, many of whom were left homeless overnight.

The Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs described the incident as a "blatant example of racial discrimination" and called on the international community to intervene to stop Israel's demolition campaign against Palestinians in the city.

The ministry said more than 464 Palestinian structures have been demolished across the Jerusalem governorate since the start of the year, including 229 within the city itself.

These attacks come amid a sweeping escalation in Israeli military raids across the occupied West Bank. Palestinian media reported that Israeli forces stormed the northern city of Tubas as well as the towns of Silwad and Kobar near Ramallah, firing live ammunition during incursions.

Israeli troops were also deployed around the village of Wadi Rahal, south of Bethlehem, where a military checkpoint was erected and movement was restricted, further tightening the chokehold on Palestinian communities.

Additional raids were reported across the northern Jordan Valley and throughout the Tulkarem and Nablus governorates, with Israeli forces using tear gas and sound bombs and forcing shops to close, effectively paralysing daily life.

The surge in settler violence and military raids coincides with Israel’s approval of 19 new illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said the move was intended to block the creation of a Palestinian state, making explicit what Palestinians and rights groups have long argued is a policy of permanent dispossession.

Settler violence has risen sharply since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, as armed settlers operate with growing confidence under the protection of Israeli forces and political backing from the government.

In the Gaza Strip, Israel has continued to violate the ceasefire agreement while maintaining severe restrictions on the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that two people were killed on Monday after Israeli forces opened fire in the Shujayea neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City.

Gaza's health authorities said at least 12 Palestinians were killed over the past 24 hours, including eight whose bodies were recovered from rubble. The overall death toll in Gaza has now reached 70,942 since 7 October 2023, with the vast majority of those killed reported to be women and children.

Since the ceasefire came into effect on 11 October, at least 406 Palestinians have been killed, 1,118 injured and 653 bodies recovered, according to official figures.