WEST BANK, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), A group of Jewish settlers on Monday set fire to two vehicles and spray-painted racist graffiti in a terrorist attack on the village of Shiukh al-Arroub, north of al-Khalil.
Local sources reported that a group of settlers raided the al-Rahwa area of the village, torched two cars, and stole 25 sheep belonging to residents Ikrima Ibrahim Kawazba and Suhaib Jawabra.
The settlers also wrote racist slogans before local residents confronted them, forcing them to withdraw.
In a separate development, Israeli forces escalated their actions in the town of Arraba, south of Jenin, on Sunday evening, arresting a man and his two sons from al-Khalil.
Israeli bulldozers also uprooted dozens of olive trees across approximately 25 dunums of land near the former Arraba military camp, in preparation for its expansion and reoccupation.
Palestinian families who had been living in the camp since 2014 were forced to evacuate in December, after which Israeli forces began reconstruction and expansion works.
Furthermore, Israeli authorities issued demolition notices to resident Jihad Mousa, targeting three commercial shops and his home near the Arraba fuel station, giving him 48 hours before demolition begins.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian father and his sons, Luay and Laith, in Masafer Yatta after settlers released their livestock onto his land. The family was reportedly assaulted, and stun grenades were fired at their homes after settlers destroyed fencing and allowed their animals to graze on cultivated land.
The attacks come amid a sharp rise in settler violence against Palestinian towns and villages, often carried out under the protection of Israeli forces.
Official Israeli data shows a significant increase in such attacks across the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the year. According to Israel’s public broadcaster (KAN), 60 attacks were recorded in January, rising to 71 in February, and nearly 100 incidents occurred between early March and last Thursday.
The data indicates a 67% increase in January and a 41% rise in February compared to the same period last year, highlighting an accelerating pattern of violence.
The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission reported that settlers carried out 443 attacks in a single month following the outbreak of the Israeli–US escalation with Iran, exploiting the situation to intensify assaults on Palestinian communities.
These attacks included live fire, arson, destruction of homes and property, and efforts to impose new realities on the ground, part of a broader strategy aimed at altering the geographic and demographic landscape of the West Bank.
The highest number of attacks was recorded in Nablus (108), followed by al-Khalil (99), Ramallah (76), Bethlehem (32), Occupied Jerusalem (24), Salfit (23), as well as Jericho and Qalqilya.
