Settler Violence, Army Raids Escalate across Occupied West Bank
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Israeli forces and settlers escalated assaults across the occupied West Bank, carrying out raids, arrests, and property destruction that Palestinians say are part of a broader campaign to entrench illegal settlement expansion.
Israeli forces detained four Palestinians in overnight raids across the occupied West Bank, the official Wafa news agency reported.
Two people were arrested in Bethlehem and the nearby town of Husan.
In Birzeit, north of Ramallah, troops stormed a home and detained a man along with his son.
Another raid in Balata refugee camp, near Nablus, targeted several houses, including the residence of a local Fatah leader.
Separately, Israeli forces withdrew Sunday from Al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah, after a three-day military operation that witnesses said left widespread destruction.
Military bulldozers uprooted farmland and damaged infrastructure, while dozens of Palestinians were arrested, among them local councilor Amin Abu Alia.
Residents described the assault as “revenge-driven.”
The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said Israeli authorities issued a military order to remove olive trees across 297 dunams of land in Al-Mughayyir, citing security claims to facilitate settlement expansion.
Meanwhile, settlers carried out a wave of attacks on Palestinians and their property in several areas, including Hebron Al-Khalil), Jericho, Ramallah, and Nablus, according to the Al-Baydar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights.
Palestinian figures show that settlers committed 466 assaults in July, killing four Palestinians, displacing two Bedouin communities, and attempting to set up 15 new outposts.
The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that at least 1,014 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers since October 2023.
In a landmark opinion last year, the International Court of Justice ruled Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.
