Israeli settler violence forces entire Palestinian community to flee, amid sweeping raids, arrests

A Palestinian community in the occupied West Bank has been forcibly displaced following a surge of Israeli settler attacks, while Israeli forces also carried out a campaign of raids and arrests across the territory.

The Palestinian community of Ras Ein al-‘Auja, located east of Ramallah, has been facing daily violent armed settler attacks, which include theft and destruction of property of livestock and property, as well as physical assaults.

According to the West Bank Protection Consortium, a new illegal settler outpost has also been constructed metres away from Palestinian homes in the area.  

The group said the community is one of the last ones remaining in the east Ramallah-Jericho border area, but 26 families, making up a third of the community, have been forced to flee due to the scale of the attacks.

The remaining 90 families are also packing up to leave, the consortium added, noting that their forced displacement violates the fourth Geneva Convention and would be deemed unlawful by the International Court of Justice.

The latest developments come as Israeli forces launched sweeping raids in a town south of Bethlehem on Sunday.

At least 12 Palestinians, including a 12-year-old child, were detained, according to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency.

Local sources said Israeli forces stormed the town of Beit Fajjar and raided several homes.

Israeli forced also restricted the movement of people in a village east of Qalqilya, with eyewitnesses telling reporters that a military checkpoint was set up to stop and search civilians. The checkpoint prevented people from going to work and caused significant delays, putting many peoples lives at a standstill.

In Nablus, Israeli forces besieged a home in the Old City, with sources telling Wafa that undercover troops went into the area and launched the incursion, while military vehicles also followed. At least two Palestinians were detained in the raid, reports state.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in Hebron on Sunday, who was later identified as 58-year-old Shaker Falah al-Jaabari.

Al-Jaabari succumbed to his wounds after he was shot by Israeli forces on Saturday evening. Israeli authorities have seized his body, in what Palestinians have long lambasted as a form of collective punishment, as it does not allow civilians to bury or properly grieve their loved ones.

Local sources told reporters that he was killed after Israeli forces opened fire at a vehicle in the Khallet Hadour area and later prevented ambulances and any civilians from reaching and trying to help him.

Since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, there has been a surge in settler violence and widespread arrests in the occupied West Bank.