By Awad Rajoub
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Illegal Israeli settlers launched an early morning attack on a Palestinian residential area in the southern West Bank on Saturday, stealing 300 sheep and causing significant damage to the property of local residents.
Eyewitnesses reported to Anadolu Agency that settlers from the Nokdim settlement, which is itself illegal under international law, descended on the Jorat al-Khail area, east of the town of Sair, near Hebron. During the assault, the settlers not only stole livestock but also destroyed mobile homes belonging to three Palestinian families.
The witnesses further detailed that the settlers "damaged water tanks, stole five mobile phones, and assaulted several residents" during the raid, exacerbating tensions in the region.
This attack is part of a troubling increase in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, a spike that has been observed since October 7, according to Palestinian sources. The ongoing violence has led to a significant rise in casualties. The Palestinian Health Ministry reports that since October 7, a total of 673 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, with over 5,400 others injured due to actions by the Israeli army and settlers.
The incident in Jorat al-Khail comes against the backdrop of a broader legal and political context. On July 19, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark advisory opinion declaring Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land "illegal" and called for the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Despite this ruling, the situation on the ground remains tense, with ongoing settler violence adding to the already fraught conditions in the occupied territories.
*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara