Israeli settlers injure fifteen Palestinians in attack near Bethlehem

Fifteen Palestinians, including children, were injured on Friday in an attack carried out by Israeli settlers under the protection of Israeli forces in the Khalil al-Louz area, south of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that its teams in Bethlehem dealt with 15 injuries resulting from the settlers’ and Israeli army’s assault in the Khalil al-Louz area.

Among the injured were six children suffering from tear gas-induced suffocation and two others who were beaten.

The Red Crescent said that its teams managed to provide treatment despite Israeli interference with ambulance operations during the attack.

Hasan Mlihah, the head of the Baydar Human Rights Organization, told The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that settlers attacked a home in the Khalil al-Louz area, causing injuries to several family members of varying severity.

Mlihah said that elsewhere in the West Bank, settlers had attacked Palestinian farms in the northern Jordan Valley, tearing down barley crop shelters, which resulted in water damage and spoilage of crops.

In the town of Termasiya near Ramallah, Mlihah said, settler bulldozers have been uprooting trees and levelling land since early morning around the home of the Abu Awad family, causing extensive damage to trees and agricultural land.

Settlers also raided the Shalal al-Ouja Palestinian Bedouin community north of Jericho this morning, releasing their livestock to graze among trees and local homes, disturbing the residents.

Additionally, local sources reported that dozens of settlers raided the archaeological site of Khan al-Luban in the village of Luban al-Sharqiya, south of Nablus, this afternoon under the protection of Israeli forces.

Israeli forces killed a young man and wounded another in this village on New Year’s Day.

There has been a notable increase in settler attacks on Palestinians recently. Over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the Gaza war began in October 2023, mostly by Israeli soldiers but some by Israeli settlers.