Zionist settlers and Zionist occupation forces continued a series of attacks across multiple areas of the occupied West Bank on Sunday, carrying out assaults on Palestinian towns, attempting to set fire to a mosque, vandalizing vehicles, uprooting olive trees, and grazing livestock on agricultural land. The incidents were accompanied by raids and arrests targeting children and elderly residents.
In one of the latest incidents, dozens of Zionist settlers stormed the town of Kifl Haris in the Salfit governorate in the northern West Bank before dawn on Sunday. According to local officials, the settlers hurled stones at homes and vehicles and attempted to set fire to the town’s mosque before residents confronted them and forced them to leave the area.
Munir Abu Yaqoub, head of the Kifl Haris Municipal Council, said approximately 30 settlers entered the town during the early morning hours and attacked residents’ property, damaging six vehicles during the assault. He added that the town has been subjected to near-daily attacks by settlers, creating an ongoing atmosphere of fear and anxiety among residents.
Elsewhere in Salfit, settlers reportedly cut down and uprooted olive trees in the Wadi al-Shaer area. In another incident early Sunday, settlers vandalized two vehicles and slashed their tires in the al-Jubail area of the village of Majdal Bani Fadel, south of Nablus. The vehicles belonged to local resident Mohammad Nazmi Zain al-Din.
In Masafer Yatta, south of al-Khalil, settlers vandalized for the fifth time the memorial dedicated to Suleiman al-Hathalin in the hamlet of Umm al-Kheir, also destroying trees planted around the site.
Al-Hathalin is regarded as one of the most prominent symbols of steadfastness in Masafer Yatta. He was killed nearly five years ago after being struck by an Zionist enemy military vehicle near the entrance to Umm al-Kheir.
In Beit-lehem, settlers, under the protection of Zionist enemy forces, grazed their sheep on agricultural lands in the town of Nahalin west of the city, causing damage to grapevines and olive trees in the “al-Nasba” area near Banias, east of the town.
Walid Najajreh, an administrative official in the Nahalin Municipal Council, stated that the town has recently witnessed an escalation by Zionist enemy forces and settlers, including preventing residents from accessing their lands, detaining farmers, demolishing agricultural rooms, confiscating land, and bulldozing property.
In Nablus governorate, Zionist enemy forces raided the towns of Beita, Jamma’in, and Osarin south of the city, storming and searching homes. Meanwhile, settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles with stones near the town of Awarta, causing damage to several cars.
In al-Quds, Zionist enemy forces arrested 17-year-old Hamza Rani Ahmad Rabeeh from the town of Beit Anan northwest of the city after raiding and searching his home, according to the al-Quds Governorate.
Zionist enemy forces also arrested one Palestinian man and four children during a raid on the town of Beit Ummar north of al-Khalil on Sunday. Local sources reported that the detainees included 72-year-old Youssef Hassan Akhleel and the children Rabhi Mohammad Rabhi Awad, 15, Musab Safi Mohammad al-Sulaibi, Ayman Mufid Mohammad Akhleel, and Saleh Saeed Saleh Za’aqiq, all aged 16. The arrests took place after Zionist enemy troops raided and searched their homes.
The arrests came a day after a young Palestinian man was shot with live ammunition during an Zionist enemy military raid on Beit Ummar on Saturday evening. His condition was described as moderate.
The occupied West Bank has witnessed a growing escalation in settler violence and Zionist enemy military incursions, particularly in rural areas adjacent to settlements and settlement outposts.
According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, 1,637 attacks carried out by settlers and Zionist enemy forces were documented during the month of April alone.
Since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023, attacks by the Zionist enemy forces and settlers in the West Bank have resulted in the deaths of 1,162 Palestinians, injuries to 12,245 others, and the arrest of nearly 23,000 people, according to official Palestinian data.
