Israeli settlers launch attacks across occupied West Bank, injure Palestinians

Israeli settlers have launched a new wave of attacks on several areas in the occupied West Bank, targeting Palestinian communities amid growing fears of raids on a Palestinian Christian town. 

The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that several Palestinians were injured after settlers opened fire on them while they were working on their land between the towns of Sinjil and Al-Mazra'a ash-Sharqiya- located north of Ramallah in the central West Bank. 

Bahaa Fuqaha, deputy chair of the Sinjil Municipality, told the outlet that a group of farmers were heading to their land near Road 60, which passes through areas belonging to both Sinjil and Al-Mazra'a ash-Sharqiya.  

He told al-Araby al Jadeed, "Settlers opened fire on them, resulting in injuries, the nature and number of which are not yet known."  

Fuqaha added that local residents attempted to reach the injured farmers to help them but have so far been unable to do so. 

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that its medical teams treated two individuals with head injuries following a settler attack on civilians in Sinjil.  

According to PRCS, the injured were transferred to hospital for further treatment. 

Eyewitnesses told al-Araby al-Jadeed that settlers also attacked an ambulance attempting to reach the wounded in the Jabal al-Tall al-Batin area between Sinjil and Al-Mazra'a Al-Sharqiya. 

In Hebron, the Red Crescent confirmed that its teams responded to two more injuries after settlers assaulted two young men in the area of Masafer Yatta. 

A day prior, Palestinian media reported that Israeli settlers attacked the home and property of a Palestinian man identified as Nadi al-Atawneh in the town of Beit Kahil, located in the Hebron governorate.  

Settlers reportedly destroyed property inside the home and uprooted trees from his land.  

Palestinian news outlets, citing local sources, noted that this marks the third consecutive attack targeting al-Atawneh and his family.  

These updates come as the Christian West Bank town of Taybeh has recently faced a rise in settler attacks and harassment, including a fire allegedly set by settlers on Monday near the archaeological site of the ruins of the fifth-century Church of St. George, according to both Palestinian and Israeli media this week. 

The attacks have drawn strong condemnation from Taybeh’s three leading churches- the Greek Orthodox Church, the Latin Church, and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church- which warned that illegal settlement outposts have recently been established on the town’s eastern edge.

They also reported a disturbing new pattern in which settlers graze their cattle on Taybeh’s agricultural land almost daily. 

In a joint statement, Father Daoud Khoury of the Greek Orthodox Church, Father Jacques-Noble Abed of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, and Father Bashar Fawadleh of the Latin Church called for an "immediate and transparent" investigation into the attacks, warning they threaten "our very existence on this land."

In Nablus, al-Araby al-Jadeed reported on Friday that Israeli forces arrested two residents at dawn and inspected a house in the village of Bizzariya, located in the northern West Bank roughly 13 kilometres northwest of Nablus, in preparation for its demolition. 

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed also reported that Israeli forces raided Bizzariya, imposed a strict curfew, and closed all village entrances.  

The raid coincided with searches of homes belonging to the family of Malek Salem, reportedly one of the suspects in an attack on an Israeli soldier near the Gush Etzion settlement, according to Tayseer Safarini, head of the Bizzariya village council. 

In Jerusalem, Israeli forces reportedly detained four young men at the entrance to the town of Hizma, near the Old City.

In Hebron, residents of the Old City were subjected to a lockdown as Israeli forces closed checkpoints and iron gates.

The recent incidents come amid a report released this week by the Commission for Resisting th Wall and Settlements, which documented more than 11,280 attacks by Israeli forces and settlers in the first half of this year, emphasising that these ranged from land confiscation and vandalism to extrajudicial killings and destruction of property. 

Attacks by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank have surged since the start of the Gaza war on 7 October 2023, with at least 951 Palestinians killed as a result.  

The Palestinian Prisoners Club reported on Thursday that at least 52 Palestinians were arrested across the West Bank in the past 48 hours.