Israeli settlers burn buildings and torch cars in attacks on West Bank villages

A Palestinian man inspects his burned-out vehicle following a reported attack by Israeli settlers in the village of Silat al-Dhahr, southwest of Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank yesterday. Photo / Zain Jaafar, AFP

Palestinian residents said that Israeli settlers torched buildings and cars in attacks on several villages in the occupied West Bank, with Israel’s Army condemning “violence of any kind” after the fact.

The reported arson yesterday came in the midst of a spate of killings of Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank since the start of the Iran war.

AFP journalists saw the charred remains of a house and several vehicles in the village of Fandaqumiya, southwest of Jenin.

In the village of Jalud, a medical centre had been torched and Hebrew graffiti daubed on the mosque.

Hassan Al-Zoubi, whose home in Fandaqumiya was destroyed, told AFP that some 200 assailants had come from the nearby settlement of Homesh.

“They set the house on fire right before our eyes using Molotov cocktails, throwing them through the windows,” Zoubi said.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA said several Palestinians were injured in the attacks.

The Israeli Army said soldiers had been “dispatched to several Palestinian villages ... following reports of Israeli civilians committing acts of arson against structures and property, as well as engaging in disturbances in the area”.

“The security forces condemn violence of any kind and will continue to act to maintain the security of residents and public order in the area,” the military said in a statement.

The incidents came after the Army said an Israeli civilian died on Saturday when a Palestinian vehicle reportedly “hit an Israeli vehicle”.

Israeli police said they were investigating whether the incident was “terror-related”, but there was no confirmation.

‘Settler terror’

Since the start of the United States-Israeli war with Iran, six Palestinians have been shot dead in settler attacks in the West Bank, according to a tally of data from the Ramallah-based health ministry.

The Palestinian presidency condemned the recent “terrorist attacks carried out by Israeli colonist gangs” in the West Bank.

“These assaults constitute a serious escalation for which the Israeli occupation government bears full responsibility,” it said.

Diplomats from 13 European nations and Canada decried “increasing settler terror”, and said the violent attempts to seize Palestinian land “must end”.

Alongside roughly three million Palestinians, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.

Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 has risen sharply since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.

According to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Health Ministry figures, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1050 Palestinians - many of them militants, but also scores of civilians - in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war.

Official Israeli figures say 45 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have also been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations.

-Agence France-Presse