By Aysar Alais
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Five Palestinians were injured on Sunday when an Israeli military vehicle rammed into their car in the occupied West Bank, local media said.
A car carrying five teachers was hit by a military vehicle near the village of Ein al-Beida in the northern Jordan Valley, the state news agency Wafa reported.
The injured teachers were rushed to hospital for medical attention, the broadcaster said.
Separately, illegal Israeli settlers chopped down olive trees in the town of Battir west of Bethlehem in the West Bank.
Zaki al-Batta, a former mayor of Battir, said 12 olive trees were cut in the Al-Khammar area, marking the fourth attack on the area in recent days.
Batta explained that the illegal settlers vandalized the fence of the targeted land, and cut the trees near the Nahal Haletz settlement outpost.
In the nearby town of Nahalin, illegal settlers established a new settlement outpost on the lands of the Ein Faris area west of the town and erected two tin houses (barracks) for livestock, Wafa said, citing the mayor of Nahalin, Jamal Najajra.
Najajra warned that the outpost will deny Palestinian farmers and shepherds access to their lands in the Ein Faris area, which spans approximately 2,000 dunams.
In the last few years, the Israeli military has conducted regular raids in the West Bank, which have escalated with the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023. Palestinians have also been violently attacked by illegal settlers.
At least 837 Palestinians have since been killed and more than 6,700 injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful, and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala