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Settler attacks and raids
Israeli settler attacks and army raids across the occupied West Bank injured three Palestinians and led to six arrests on Wednesday, according to TRT World’s account of local sources.
“Several Palestinians have been injured in separate attacks across the occupied West Bank amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports”
In Hebron, armed illegal Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian homes in the Wadi al-Rakhim area south of Yatta, and the wounded were transferred to Yatta Public Hospital with injuries described as moderate.
In Nablus, Israeli forces arrested three young men, two from the town of Al-Lubban al-Sharqiya and one from Beita, after raiding and searching their homes, and the sources said the forces beat the father of one detainee.
In Bethlehem province, Israeli forces detained 25 Palestinians during a raid on Dheisheh refugee camp south of the city, WAFA reported, and the forces took them to the Phoenix Hall for field interrogations for hours before releasing them.
In Qalqilya province, Israeli forces arrested three young men, two from the city and one from Habla to the south, after raiding and searching their homes and damaging their contents.
Christian violence and appeals
OSV News reported that Franciscans in the United States urged U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to help stop increased attacks against Christians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
In a statement released July 9, the 12 provincial ministers representing the U.S. Franciscan provinces said the State Department responded on June 24 that, "Our office continues to track issues of violence against Christians in Israel and the West Bank, and we take it very seriously."
Franciscan Father Lawrence Hayes, provincial minister of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe, said, "Violence continues to grow unabated. The world cannot be blind to the atrocities," as he described the appeal as a bid for greater attention and advocacy for peace.
OSV News also said that in late June Israeli settlers set fire to homes and vehicles in Taybeh, killing three people, and that the Israeli Defense Force apprehended five suspects involved in the attack.
The report added that Father Bashar Fawadleh told Vatican News that after repeated attacks against Christians in Taybeh, Israeli settlers began constructing an illegal outpost in an area belonging to Taybeh.
Gaza aid obstruction and stakes
OSV News tied the West Bank appeals to Gaza, saying concerns have also been raised in Gaza as Israeli forces continued their attacks despite a ceasefire.
It reported that Vatican News said five people were killed July 12 in strikes that the Israeli military said targeted a weapons production site operated by Hamas.
The same OSV News report said a United Nations deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Ramiz Alakbarov, condemned obstruction of humanitarian aid to Gaza after "armed personnel affiliated with the de facto authorities" raided a food distribution point and a U.N. World Food Program warehouse.
Alakbarov said, "They are completely unacceptable and reflect an increasingly dangerous pattern of intimidation, violence and obstruction, including smuggling attempts, targeting and abusing humanitarian operations," and he called for an end to "all interference with humanitarian operations."
The report added that Alakbarov reiterated that humanitarian organizations must be able to carry out their work safely, independently, impartially and without fear of intimidation or violence.
