Foreign activist, Palestinian injured in attacks by Israeli settlers in occupied West Bank
Since the start of Israel’s assault on Gaza in October 2023, 977 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank
Israeli settlers march around Hebron
RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL
Illegal Israeli settlers launched scattered attacks on Palestinian towns in the West Bank and Jerusalem on Wednesday, injuring a Palestinian man and a foreign activist and setting two vehicles on fire.
In the village of Mukhamas northeast of Jerusalem, settlers attacked Palestinian families picnicking in a public park and fired shots.
Mustafa Kanaan, a local resident, told Anadolu that the settlers assaulted a 65-year-old American-Israeli human rights activist who accompanies Palestinians to monitor settler violations. He was struck in the face during the attack.
The settlers also torched two Palestinian vehicles in the same location as part of ongoing attacks targeting residents and agricultural lands of Mukhamas, Kanaan added.
Foreign activists, including human rights observers, are often present in friction zones in the West Bank to show solidarity with Palestinians and document settler attacks.
In southern Hebron, activist Osama Makhamreh reported that Palestinian shepherd Mafdi Rabai was injured after settlers beat him near his home in the village of Al-Tuwani. He was transferred to Yatta Government Hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, in the northern West Bank, settlers continued for the fifth consecutive day to block the main entrance to the village of Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya south of Nablus, performing religious rituals under Israeli military protection, according to the Palestinian official news agency WAFA.
The agency added that the village entrance had been closed seven times over the past 12 days, worsening daily hardships for residents.
According to the Colonization and Wall and Resistance Commission, settlers carried out 415 attacks against Palestinians and their property in May alone, ranging from armed raids and land seizures to field executions, vandalism, land bulldozing, tree uprooting and road closures fragmenting Palestinian geography.
Since the start of Israel’s assault on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, 977 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.�
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
