A wave of attacks on Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers has broken out amid the Iran war, with clinics, schools, homes and cars being burned down in large-scale coordinated efforts.
Israeli settlers have escalated their attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including the burning down of a clinic, shooting at civilians, and vandalising a school.
Palestinian media had reported on Monday that Israeli settlers had attacked and raided a boys’ secondary school in the town of Hawara, located south of Nablus, where settlers had raised an Israeli flag after tearing down a Palestinian one.
The settlers also wrote “Death to Arabs” on the walls.
On Sunday evening, coordinated settler attacks ensued in villages near Nablus and Ramallah, where armed Israeli settlers unleashed a series of attacks against Palestinians in the town of Deir al-Hatab.
At least nine people were injured in the attacks, with one Palestinian sustaining a gunshot wound.
Similar attacks took place in the town of Burqa, east of Ramallah, where settlers set fire to a local clinic and a vehicle.
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Before the attacks on Burqa, several attacks and confrontations were reported around Jenin, Nablus, and Salfit.
The worst of the attacks took place in the towns of al-Fandaqumiya and Silat ad-Dhahr, where settlers launched their attacks from the Homesh settlement, built on land that originally belonged to the two Palestinian towns.
Settlers have been in recent years building up a more established presence in the area after its evacuation in 2005.
Several Palestinian homes and vehicles were severely damaged in al-Fandaqumiya by the settlers, with one Palestinian suffering from serious injuries.
Locals report attacks
Hussam al-Zu’bi, a local resident, had his home completely burned down. Al-Zu’bi was visiting his uncle when he received a call informing him that his house was on fire, finding it engulfed in flames when he returned to the scene.
“They burned everything, smashed the windows, and the fire consumed all the furniture,” al-Zu’bi said.
“They even tore down the roof tiles and threw Molotov cocktails through the roof and windows, and the house immediately burst into flames.”
Al-Zu’bi also added that over 200 settlers had taken part in the brutal attack on the village, which had allegedly begun shortly after midnight and lasted around 20 minutes.
Another resident, Sami Azzam, reported that the settlers had organised themselves and spread out among the houses in groups, suggesting that the attack was an organised effort.
“They threw Molotov cocktails at another neighbour’s house, causing it to catch fire and burn down.”
Fears of death
Similar attacks took place the day before, late on Saturday, in Silat al-Dhahr, where 150 settlers attacked Palestinian homes in the same fashion.
Adel Abu Ali, a resident of the town, stated that he felt families would have been murdered in the same way as the Dawabsheh family, referring to a family killed in a settler arson attack in Duma in 2015.
“They assaulted my neighbour, fracturing his skull, and he is still in hospital. They also burned four houses and five vehicles,” Abu Ali said.
Prior to the attacks, settlers had circulated calls on social media for demonstrations and protests after a settler had previously died in a car crash, reportedly in a stolen vehicle from the town of Beit Iba, near Nablus, on Saturday.
In response to this, the Palestinian Liaison Office urged all residents to minimise their travels between the cities to avoid the possibility of ongoing attacks on roads and vehicles.
The recent wave of settler violence had escalated following the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Six Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the war.
