By Qais Abu Samra
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Illegal Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles and blocked roads in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to witnesses.
Illegal settlers closed the Yitzhar road and the Zatara checkpoint south of Nablus and the Ayun al-Haramiyah road near Ramallah in the occupied territory, witnesses said.
Settlers also threw stones at Palestinian cars passing through the Zatara checkpoint, causing damage to several vehicles, they added.
Extremist settlers also hung pictures of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas draped in a Hamas flag, with a slogan reading, “The (Palestinian) Authority equals Hamas.”
There are 451,000 illegal settlers in 132 settlements and 147 outposts in the West Bank, along with 230,000 in the occupied East Jerusalem, according to the left-wing Israeli Peace Now movement.
Tensions have been running high across the West Bank since Israel launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip, where more than 35,200 people have been killed following a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Nearly 503 Palestinians have since been killed and around 5,000 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul