Illegal Israeli settlers beat, injure Palestinians in coordinated attacks across occupied West Bank

By Awad Rjoub

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Illegal Israeli settlers injured at least five Palestinians late Saturday in a series of coordinated attacks across the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian official sources.

WAFA news agency reported that armed settlers assaulted three Palestinians while they were working on their land in the town of Beit Imrin, north of Nablus, leaving them with bruises and other injuries.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its crews evacuated one of the injured to a hospital.

Separately, the official Voice of Palestine radio reported that illegal settlers also attacked the town of Qusra, south of Nablus, though no further details were immediately available.

In another incident in the central West Bank, WAFA said two Palestinians were injured after illegal settlers blocked a road between the village of Ramoun and the town of Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah, before assaulting them.

One of the victims sustained head injuries and was transferred to hospital, while the other suffered bruises.

Voice of Palestine said illegal settlers targeted a cave in the Wadi I’mer area near the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, as part of a wider pattern of attacks in the area.

According to the Palestinian Authority’s Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, illegal settlers carried out at least 468 attacks against Palestinians and their property across the West Bank in January alone.

Israel has intensified its military operations in the West Bank since launching its war on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 8, 2023, including killings, arrests, forced displacement and settlement expansion, a trajectory Palestinians say is aimed at paving the way for the formal annexation of the occupied territory.

At least 1,112 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, about 11,500 wounded, and more than 21,000 detained during that period, according to Palestinian estimates.

The International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal in a landmark opinion in July 2024 and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Tarek Chouiref