West Bankupdated 24m ago2 min read
Settlers and Israeli Forces Escalate West Bank Attacks, Civil Affairs Reports 32 Assaults
“occupation forces fired sound grenades and tear gas canisters at Palestinians harvesting olives”
“soldiers fired tear gas at the assailants and successfully dispersed them.”
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Settler violence across the West Bank targets farmers and property, injuring activists and residents. Settlement expansion plans advance with tenders for hundreds of units near Bethlehem.
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Escalation Across West Bank
Palestinian General Authority for Civil Affairs counted 32 settler assaults in the last 24 hours, most of them in Hebron Governorate, as Israeli raids and arrests coincided with the escalation. Settlers cut a power pole feeding Palestinian homes in the Wadi al-Rakhem area of Masafer Yatta, south of the governorate, causing a power outage for the area for the second time in a short period.
Israeli occupation forces and settler groups escalated assaults across various governorates of the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, including incursions, arrest campaigns, demolitions, and sealing off of areas. Dozens of settlers under heavy protection from occupation police stormed the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque via the Mughrabi Gate and performed Talmudic rituals near the Dome of the Rock.
Olive Harvest Attacks
Israeli settlers attacked protective presence activists helping Palestinian farmers harvest olives in the West Bank village of Qusra, wounding six people including four Israeli volunteers with the Rabbis for Human Rights organization. Ezra Brownstein said, "The fact that I don’t feel secure without a helmet to pick olives is absurd, but that’s the reality of the situation," after he described volunteers harvesting olives for an hour and a half before the attack began.
An IDF force arrived at the scene and dispersed assailants with tear gas, after masked assailants threw stones and bludgeoned others with clubs. The volunteers saw a group of extremists gathering on the hill above them and called the police, and the force retrieved tarpaulins containing harvested olives even though the olives had been scattered over the ground.
Tenders and Wider Stakes
Israeli authorities issued a tender for the construction of 732 units in the Gvaot settlement west of Bethlehem, and the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission described the tender as part of the first phase of a project to expand illegal settlements in the Bethlehem governorate.
Bids would be accepted starting Dec. 1, with the submission deadline set for Dec. 28, and the commission also cited a separate tender for land designated for commercial activities, employment facilities and public buildings at the same location.
The Palestinian People’s Resistance Commission’s report recorded 3,133 attacks by the army and settlers against Palestinians and their lands and property during October, including 1,764 by the army and 1,369 by settlers.
The report showed a 52.8% increase from September, describing accelerated escalation and widening scope as settler assaults and raids continued across multiple governorates.