WEST BANK, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), The occupied West Bank witnessed on Friday afternoon a wave of violent attacks by Israeli settler militias, targeting Palestinian residents, their properties, and agricultural lands.
In Nablus, residents of the town of Huwara repelled a settler assault carried out under the protection of Israeli occupation forces near a newly established outpost around Ras Zeid Mountain amid heavy live fire.
In al-Khalil, the rights group Al-Baydar reported that Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian youth, Mahmoud Rashid, amid settler activity near Palestinian homes in Khirbet Hreibet al-Nabi, part of Masafer Yatta in the southern West Bank. Settlers released herds of livestock into residential areas, further escalating tensions.
Simultaneously, settler groups drove camels and sheep through the vicinity of Khirbet al-Halawa and Khirbet al-Fakhit, also in Masafer Yatta, causing distress among local families. Meanwhile, armed settlers coming from Metzad settlement stormed the Biriya al-Shuyukh area northeast of al-Khalil, chasing Palestinian shepherds and inciting fear.
In another incident, settler herds grazed on Palestinian farmlands in Hamroush, east of Sa’ir town, north of al-Khalil, leading to significant damage to crops and triggering fear among locals.
In Jericho, a member of the Israeli Knesset stormed the Bedouin community of Shalla al-Auja, north of the city, and verbally attacked peace activists who had gathered in solidarity with Palestinian families.
Settler assaults also extended to the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, where groups of settlers invaded lands adjacent to Palestinian homes under Israeli military escort, ensuring their protection while they trespassed.
These attacks form part of a broader pattern of settler violence occurring with impunity across the West Bank, often facilitated or overlooked by Israeli forces, and raise serious concerns under international humanitarian law.
