Israeli settlers burn Palestinian vehicles, attack homes near West Bank’s Nablus
Israeli settlers have burned vehicles and attacked homes in the village of Qaryut, south of Nablus, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency. Residents said the settlers targeted Palestinian homes with stones and torched and destroyed seven vehicles.
Settler attacks on Palestinians have been on the rise since the war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023, and new settlement building has accelerated under the right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent Hamdah Salhout said Palestinians are “essentially left defenceless whenever there are settler attacks because the military is watching and not protecting them”.
They believe these attacks are aimed at “kicking them out of their lands to try and take [them] permanently”, she added.
Israeli settlements and outposts in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal under international law.
Journalist injured in Israeli settler attack near West Bank’s Ramallah
Issam al-Rimawi, a photojournalist with Turkiye’s Anadolu news agency, has been injured by Israeli settlers attacking the village of al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah in the central West Bank, according to his employer.
Muatasim Saqf Al-Hait, a colleague who witnessed the incident, told Al Jazeera that the settlers were emboldened by the arrival of the Israeli military and intensified their attacks, including hitting al-Rimawi.
“They started attacking him with rocks. They beat him on his head. It was clear that he was a journalist doing his job, but we know that journalists are attacked as well,” Al-Hait said.
Anadolu reported that the photojournalist lost consciousness and was transferred to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah.
Ex-Israeli PM says Israel ‘committing war crimes’
Ehud Olmert, who was prime minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, has written an op-ed in which he says that Israel “is committing war crimes”.
“The government of Israel is currently waging a war without purpose, without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success,” the Netanyahu critic said in the piece that was published by the Israeli news outlet Haaretz.
“Never since its establishment has the State of Israel waged such a war. The criminal gang headed by Benjamin Netanyahu has set a precedent without equal in Israel’s history in this area, too.”
