Israeli settlers shoot, beat Palestinians in fresh West Bank attacks

Israeli settlers, backed by Israeli forces, shot two Palestinians and beat eight others in Hebron on Sunday, while further attacks across the occupied West Bank left several Palestinians injured, amid a surge in settler violence.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its crews treated 10 Palestinians after settlers, accompanied by Israeli forces, attacked the Al-Ras area of Hebron city early on Sunday. Two men were shot with live ammunition, including a 60-year-old who was struck in the back and hand. A second man, 46, was shot before Israeli forces detained him.

Eight others, including a 66-year-old woman, were injured after being beaten during the attack in the Al-Jaabari neighbourhood of Al-Ras, according to the Red Crescent.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, settlers assaulted three Palestinians and sprayed them with pepper spray in Al-Masoudiya, near Burqa northwest of Nablus, damaging their vehicle. Settlers also raided areas near Al-Mughayyir and Sinjil, attacked Palestinian vehicles, and released livestock among homes, according to WAFA.

The Sunday violence followed a series of settler attacks in and around Hebron in recent days.

On Friday, Mohammed Nabil Al-Mutawwar, an intensive care nurse at Dura Governmental Hospital, was permanently paralysed after armed settlers shot him in the back near his future home in the Al-Udeisa area of Sa’ir, northeast of Hebron.

The Palestinian Nursing and Midwifery Association said the shooting caused a severe spinal cord injury. Al-Mutawwar was preparing the house ahead of his marriage when settlers from a nearby outpost opened fire, the association said. He is receiving treatment at Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron and requires specialised neurological care.

Al-Mutawwar was one of two Palestinians wounded after settlers attacked homes in Al-Udeisa and opened fire on residents on Friday, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. A young woman sustained a head injury.

In Al-Qarn, near Beit Ummar north of Hebron, settlers reportedly ran over Palestinian youth Hamada Kawamleh with a motorcycle and assaulted him while he was on his land with his children. Israeli soldiers later arrested Kawamleh, local sources told Anadolu.

On Saturday, five Palestinians — including two women, two young men and a child — were injured in an attack on Umm al-Khair in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron. WAFA reported that settlers also released livestock onto Palestinian land and damaged property and crops.

Surge in settler violence

The latest incidents come amid a sharp escalation in settler violence across the occupied West Bank, alongside continued settlement expansion under Israel’s current government.

All Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are considered illegal under international law. Palestinian officials have reported 1,476 settler attacks in 2026, while the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry says 87 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank this year.

A UN official told the Security Council last week that the organisation had documented more than 1,430 settler-violence incidents in 2026, affecting around 260 Palestinian communities. The official said nearly 3,800 Palestinians, almost half of them children, had been displaced this year through settler violence, home demolitions and evictions.

The attacks come as residents of Qusra, south of Nablus, say that settlers have surrounded homes in the village in what they describe as an attempt to force families out and seize more land.

On Saturday, Israeli forces detained three Qusra municipality workers as they attempted to restore electricity to homes that had been under siege for about a week.

The settler-enforced siege has unfolded alongside Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz’s plan to transfer responsibility for policing Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank from the military to the police.

Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh has described the move as a "flagrant violation of international law" and a step towards full Israeli annexation.