Israeli settler attack injures Palestinian baby, five arrested

Israeli forces announced on Thursday the arrest of five Israeli settlers over their alleged involvement in an attack on a Palestinian home that injured a baby girl in the occupied West Bank.

The eight-month-old infant suffered "moderate injuries to the face and head" in the late Wednesday attack, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

It blamed the attack on "a group of armed settlers," accusing them of "throwing stones at homes and property" in the town of Sair, north of Hebron.

A statement from the Israeli police said that five suspects had been arrested for their "alleged involvement in serious, violent incidents in the village of Sair".

Israeli security forces had received reports of "stones being thrown by Israeli civilians toward a Palestinian home", adding a Palestinian girl was injured.

"The preliminary investigation determined the involvement of several suspects who came from a nearby outpost," the statement said, referring to Israeli settlements not officially recognised by Israeli authorities.

Almost none of the perpetrators of previous attacks by settlers have been held to account by the Israeli authorities.

A Telegram group linked to the "Hilltop Youth," a movement of extremist settlers who advocate direct action against Palestinians, posted a video showing property damage in Sair.

More than 500,000 Israelis currently live in settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, as do around three million Palestinians.

All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal by the international community.

While some are also illegal under Israeli law, many of those are later given official recognition. Tel Aviv has vowed to continue expanding settlement construction, defying international law.

Settler violence has risen in recent years, according to the United Nations, and October was the worst month since it began recording such incidents in 2006, with 264 attacks that caused casualties or property damage.

The violence has surged since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. More than 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza.

Since the start of the war, Israeli troops and settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to Palestinian figures.