Top US diplomat Rubio warns West Bank violence could jeopardise Gaza ceasefire
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has expressed concern that settler violence in the occupied West Bank could undermine efforts to maintain the ceasefire in Gaza after a string of attacks across the Palestinian territory.
“There is certainly some concern that events in the West Bank could have repercussions that could undermine what we are doing in Gaza,” Rubio told reporters. “We don’t expect that to happen, and we will do everything we can to ensure that it doesn’t.”
His comments come after dozens of masked settlers launched a large-scale arson attack on Palestinian industrial and agricultural facilities east of Tulkarem. They caused large fires and injured several people.
In a rare rebuke by Israeli authorities, army chief Eyal Zamir condemned the violence and said the military “will not tolerate criminal behaviour by a small minority that tarnishes the law-abiding public”.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also condemned the raids, calling on authorities to “act decisively to eradicate the phenomenon”.
Human rights groups and the UN have warned that these attacks happen in a “permissive environment” thanks to the backing of key ministers in the Israeli government and sometimes with the support of Israeli soldiers.
Palestinians and journalists survey damage in an industrial zone after an attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Beit Lid near Tulkarem on November 12
Israel arrests 40 Palestinians in latest West Bank raids: Prisoner’s Society
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) has released data on Israel’s latest wave of arrests and field interrogations in the occupied West Bank. It says Israeli forces apprehended a total of 40 Palestinians, including a number of former prisoners, in raids since last night.
The arrests took place in the areas of Hebron, Nablus, Tulkarem and Ramallah, according to the group, which claimed Israeli forces also assaulted detainees’ relatives and vandalised their homes during the raids.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has made about 20,500 arrests during near-daily raids in the occupied West Bank, according to the PPS.
Israeli settlers attack Palestinians harvesting olives in occupied West Bank: Report
The Wafa news agency is reporting several new incursions by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
In one case, a group of Israeli settlers attacked people picking olives near the Palestinian town of Aqraba, according to the agency.
In another, armed settlers stormed a Bedouin community around the town of Mikhmas – located near an illegal Israeli settlement – and used a bulldozer to block a road linking the town and the settlement, Wafa said.
Israel claims to have dismantled Hamas ‘stronghold’ in occupied West Bank
The Israeli army has said it, along with Israeli police and security services, “dismantled a Hamas stronghold” in the occupied West Bank, arresting more than 50 fighters who are now being interrogated.
The army said in a statement that it conducted more than 15 operations in the Bethlehem area. In one of the operations, it claimed that Israeli soldiers confiscated multiple weapons.
50 fighters, 'stronghold', multiple weapons. Does not add up.
