Israeli settlers have assaulted a Bedouin family near the village of Taybeh, east of Ramallah, while Israeli forces continue to carry out raids and arrests across the occupied West Bank amid the relentless pounding of the Gaza Strip.
Settlers also opened fire on a group of Palestinians and their property in an attack in the town of Sinjil, northeast of Ramallah, with Wafa news agency reporting that the attack took place as Palestinians were trying to prevent a settler incursion north of the town.
Local sources told Wafa that the settlers had fired bullets through the windows of Palestinian homes and shot at a vehicle. No casualties were reported.
Two Palestinians were injured by settler gunfire during an attack on the Khallet al-Eis area in the town of ash-Shuyukh, northeast of Hebron.
The settlers fired shots at homes and set fire to areas of agricultural land, with the protection of Israeli troops who had stormed the area and fired live ammunition. They also stormed and vandalised the Hanbali Mosque in the city of Nablus.
Settlers are Israeli citizens who live illegally on private Palestinian land. More than 700,000 of them – 10 percent of Israel’s population – live in 150 illegal settlements and 128 outposts spread across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. They have attacked Palestinian civilians and their property with increasing impunity, killing and injuring residents, backed by the Israeli army.
Israeli minister storms West Bank city
Also on Sunday, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir participated in the storming of the West Bank city of Umm al-Fahm, northwest of Jenin, with Israeli police and Border Police.
Ben-Gvir made the move as he and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich push plans for annexing much of the occupied Palestinian territory despite condemnation from European and Arab leaders.
The Palestinian government’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said Israeli forces and settlers carried out 1,613 attacks against Palestinians and their property across the West Bank in August, including 431 assaults by settlers. It said attacks take place “almost daily” as part of a broader push to force Palestinians from their land.
Israeli forces’ raids across West Bank
Israeli forces arrested seven Palestinians on Sunday in raids across the West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.
In Ramallah, they raided a home and arrested a couple, while in Hebron, two Palestinian men were arrested in separate raids.
In Jenin governorate, a woman was arrested following an Israeli raid on her home in the village of Kufeirit. Two more people were arrested in Jenin and al-Yamoun.
Israeli forces also arrested three people from the Bethlehem governorate, according to Wafa.
Wafa reported that Israeli forces stormed the Hindaza area in the east of the governorate and arrested Habib Salah Issa Qassem, 40, and Firas Ibrahim Ali Beit Rashid, 39.
In the western village of Husan, they arrested 18-year-old Salah Nabil Muhammad al-Shaer from al-Matina.
Israeli forces also bulldozed land in the western area of Farkha village, southwest of Salfit, to expand a settler outpost.
Mustafa Hammad, head of the Farkha village council, told the Wafa news agency that the bulldozing operations were focused on the Jabal al-Batin area as part of Israel’s settlement expansion project.
On Saturday, Israeli forces injured 26 Palestinians and arrested 18 during raids across the occupied West Bank, with reports of three young men shot in the town of Nilin, west of Ramallah, after clashes erupted during a military incursion.
In the town of Anata, northeast of Jerusalem, troops stormed houses in large numbers and arrested at least 16 Palestinians after field interrogations, Wafa reported.
Two others were taken from a taxi at an Israeli checkpoint near Nablus, while forces also carried out searches and set up roadblocks in Hebron, where residents reported property damage and harassment.
Since October 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza, at least 1,018 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Protesters in Hebron demand release of mayor
Palestinians in Hebron demonstrated against Israel’s arrest of the city’s Mayor Tayseer Abu Sneineh, who was detained by Israeli forces on Tuesday.
Footage posted on social media and verified by Al Jazeera showed protesters in front of the city’s Municipal Council holding a banner demanding Abu Sneineh’s release from arrest, which they considered a crime against the city and its people.
Israeli forces arrested Abu Sneineh during a raid on his home in a move that drew criticism from the Municipal Council and Hamas, which called it “a continuation of the occupation’s brutal and aggressive approach and its targeting of all components of our people”.
