Hamas official calls for more ‘resistance’ in face of settler attacks
Mahmoud Mardawi says an uptick in attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank – the latest of which was an attack on the al-Ka’abneh Bedouins School in Jericho – calls for collective action and an increase in resistance by Palestinians.
Residents of illegal Israeli settlements are often armed and carry out attacks against Palestinians under the protection of Israeli soldiers. Mardawi called the violence a “desperate attempt to instill fear in the hearts of Palestinian residents there and to push them out of the land”.
In a statement, he urged Palestinians in the West Bank to unite and confront these “vicious attacks”, adding that resistance is the “only guarantee to get rid of the occupation”.
There has been an increase in the volume and frequency of settler attacks against Palestinians and their personal property since October 7. At least 704 people have since been killed and more than 5,700 others injured in Israeli raids and settler attacks across the West Bank since Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza began.
Settler attacks in the West Bank driven by ‘religious, nationalist fever’
Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara says that at the heart of settler attacks across the West Bank is a “religious, nationalist fever”. “Most of it is irrational,” Bishara said.
His comments come after Israeli settlers attacked a school in the Muarrajat area, northwest of Jericho, earlier today.
Settlers who carry out attacks against Palestinians and their property are increasing in number, Bishara said. “Especially the young ones … they’re very radical, very extreme,” Bishara said. “They think of it as a … crusade against the Palestinian people.”
He added that “religious fanatics” in the illegal settlements have been acting with impunity because they are in control of the Israeli government – “not the other way around”.
Palestinian woman injured in Israeli settler attack in Hebron
Israeli settlers have assaulted several Palestinian citizens in the Jourat al-Jamal area, southeast of Yatta in Hebron, Wafa reports.
A woman from the Abu Malsh family suffered wounds and bruises in the attack, which was carried out with protection from Israeli soldiers, according to the Palestinian news agency. She was taken to hospital, where her condition was described as moderate.
Separately, Israeli forces confiscated a number of vehicles in the al-Fakhari area in Hebron’s village of al-Karmel, and detained Mohammed al-Harini from Masafer Yatta while he was trying to confront settlers who attempted to seize his land.
Soldiers also detained Hatem Makhamreh and seized his agricultural tractor after assaulting him and his son, Ali, near the entrance to al-Karmel and al-Tuwani in Masafer Yatta, Wafa said.
Israel arrests three Palestinians in West Bank town
Israeli forces have raided Silwad – north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank – and arrested three young men and took their vehicles, the Wafa news agency reports.
Israeli forces arrest three Palestinians in raids across Ramallah
Israeli soldiers have arrested three young Palestinian men during a raid on the town of Silwad in the Ramallah and el-Bireh governorate of the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency is reporting.
Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic also reported that Israeli forces were besieging several streets in the city of Ramallah in the vicinity of the Palestinian Authority’s presidential headquarters.
