Israeli settlers attack Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank, burning homes and smashing cars

Israeli settlers launched coordinated attacks on multiple Palestinian villages across the occupied West Bank over the weekend.

“Israeli settlers burn Palestinian homes and vehicles in the occupied West Bank Israeli settlers have torched homes and vehicles in two areas of the occupied West Bank, wounding at least one person, amid reports of violence across the Palestinian territory”

Al Jazeera

The attacks targeted at least six villages including Fandaqumiya and Seilat al-Dahr near Jenin, Jalud and Salfit near Nablus, Masafer Yatta, and the Jordan Valley.

Al Jazeera

Settlers engaged in systematic arson, burning homes and vehicles while residents attempted to confront them and extinguish the fires.

The violence occurred during the peaceful Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan.

Coordinated attacks spread destruction across communities already living under intense occupation pressure.

The settler violence resulted in multiple injuries and widespread property destruction.

In Fandaqumiya, settlers set "homes and vehicles ablaze and damaged additional houses by smashing windows" as Palestinians "attempted to confront them and put out the fires."

Anadolu Ajansı

In Seilat al-Dahr, settlers targeted several homes, attempted to set them alight and physically assaulted a resident, leaving him wounded.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society confirmed that at least three Palestinians in Jalud suffered head wounds from beatings and were hospitalized.

Two additional Palestinians were wounded in Masafer Yatta.

Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed large fires burning inside homes as residents frantically tried to extinguish them.

One resident described attackers as "hooded settlers dressed in black."

The recent attacks represent a dramatic escalation in settler violence that has intensified since October 2023.

“Another Palestinian was killed in Gaza City, according to Shifa Hospital”

AP News

The violence was reportedly triggered after an Israeli settler was killed in a collision with a Palestinian vehicle.

Settler groups then issued calls for revenge across social media.

Israeli media reported one WhatsApp post reading "Jews won't remain silent over spilled Jewish blood" and another demanding "vengeance and expulsion of the enemy."

Since the start of the Gaza genocide in October 2023, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,050 Palestinians in the West Bank.

Six Palestinians have been shot dead in settler attacks since March 1st alone.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 25 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and military forces this year as of March 15th.

The attacks have drawn international condemnation, with Palestinian authorities urging accountability.

The Palestinian presidency condemned what it called "terrorist attacks carried out by Israeli colonist gangs," describing the assaults as "a serious escalation for which the Israeli occupation government bears full responsibility."

BBC

Diplomats from 13 European nations and Canada issued a joint statement denouncing "increasing settler terror" and demanding that "violent attempts to seize Palestinian land must end."

Israeli officials, notably the army's Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, have publicly expressed concern about the rise in settler violence.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also condemned the attacks, saying "We did not establish a Jewish state so that violent gangs would operate within it."

Despite these condemnations, Israeli forces made no arrests during or after the attacks, suggesting complicity in the violence.

The systematic attacks occur within the broader context of Israel's illegal occupation and settlement expansion in the West Bank.

“There were unconfirmed reports that settler groups had again begun to gather outside some Palestinian villages, with local news agency WAFA reporting they had set fire to a car wash north-west of Nablus”

BBC

The United Nations defines the territory as being under Israeli military occupation since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

BBC

The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel has "an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities, and to evacuate all settlers from the occupied Palestinian Territory."

West Bank settlements, home to more than 500,000 Israelis alongside roughly three million Palestinians, are widely considered illegal under international law.

Israeli settlers are religious Jews who believe God has commanded them to use violence to steal land and "cleanse" the West Bank of its indigenous inhabitants.

This ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign has been documented by UN experts who warned of an "accelerating campaign of ethnic cleansing and annexation in the occupied West Bank" since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza.