Palestinian man shot as settlers, backed by army, assault residents near Bethlehem
Israeli settlers, backed by army soldiers, attacked Palestinians in the village of Kisan, east of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports, citing local officials.
Salameh Rashaida, deputy head of the Kisan village council, said settlers assaulted residents with sticks, stones and tractors while they were ploughing their land in the Wadi Abu Ayash area.
Israeli forces accompanying the settlers opened fire, injuring a 25-year-old Palestinian man in the leg. He was taken to a hospital in Bethlehem for treatment, Wafa said.
For decades, the Israeli military has uprooted olive trees – an important Palestinian cultural symbol – across the West Bank as part of successive Israeli government efforts to seize Palestinian land and forcibly displace residents.
Settler violence has also been surging in the West Bank, with 757 attacks recorded in the first half of 2025 alone, according to data from the Israeli NGO Peace Now.
Palestinians survey damage in an industrial zone following an attack by Israeli settlers the previous day in the occupied West Bank village of Beit Lid, near Tulkarem
Israeli forces demolish more Palestinian homes in Masafer Yatta
Israeli forces on Wednesday demolished more Palestinian homes and livestock shelters in the occupied West Bank’s Masafer Yatta, the collection of communities featured in the Oscar-winning, No Other Land.
Residents could do nothing but look on as armed military and police stood guard.
Israeli forces raid several West Bank towns, sparking confrontations
Israeli forces carried out several raids across the occupied West Bank this evening, sparking confrontations and further restricting Palestinian movement, the Wafa news agency reported.
In the town of Beita, south of Nablus, Israeli troops stormed the area under heavy gunfire and fired tear gas, leading to confrontations with residents, according to local sources.
In Hebron, soldiers welded shut the main doors of several homes belonging to the Idris family in the Jaber neighbourhood near the Ibrahimi Mosque.
More than 750 Palestinian families in the Old City are living under increasingly harsh conditions due to Israeli restrictions, curfews and daily harassment by soldiers and armed settlers, Wafa said. Since October 2023, around 11 neighbourhoods have been placed under nightly curfews, with residents facing severe limitations on movement even during the day.
Israeli forces also raided the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, sparking confrontations with residents. Soldiers backed settlers who attacked Palestinians working their land in a nearby village, and fired flares over the Khalayel area during the raid, Wafa added.
