Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinians, Set Fire to House Near Nablus and Raid Hebron

Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians and their properties across the West Bank on Friday while the Israeli army carried out raids, arrests, and demolitions in Nablus and Hebron, according to Anadolu Ajansı.

Anadolu Ajansı said local sources reported that settlers set fire to a house near the eastern entrance to the town of al-Lubban al-Sharqiya on the road linking Ramallah and Nablus.

Agence Media Palestine

In southern Hebron, Anadolu Ajansı reported that settlers confiscated a vehicle and a water tank and detained a woman in the Khilat al-Fara area west of Yatta.

In Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, Anadolu Ajansı said a force from the Israeli army raided the Khilat al-Dhube area, entering homes and provoking residents.

Anadolu Ajansı also reported that clashes erupted between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces during the Beit Furik operation, with tear gas canisters being fired.

In the occupied West Bank, RFI reported that a group of Israeli settlers attacked the main station that manages the Ein Samia wells east of Ramallah, disrupting water pumping and destroying part of the equipment inside the premises.

RFI said six wells from the Ein Samia source have supplied drinking water to most of the towns located east of Ramallah since the 1960s, and that nineteen villages—more than 100,000 Palestinians—depend entirely on this site for their water supply.

Anadolu Ajansı

RFI quoted Farès Almalki, head of public relations at the Jerusalem Water Undertaking, saying the wells have been targeted repeatedly because of their geographic and security-sensitive location.

RFI also described a resurgence of attacks, saying that on January 25 settlers attacked a team of Jerusalem Water Undertaking technicians performing maintenance on a well in the Ein Samia neighborhood.

RFI added that barbed wire installed by the settlers prevented the technical teams from accessing the site to repair the damage, leading to water pumping being temporarily interrupted again.

In Hebron, WAFA reported that Israeli army bulldozers on Tuesday razed a large tract of Palestinian-owned land belonging to Beit Ummar town, north of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

WAFA said the bulldozers were escorted to the Jabal Wardan (Wardan Mount), east of the town, where heavy machineries leveled hundreds of grape and almond-planted land.

WAFA framed the action as belonging to Beit Ummar town and tied it to the razing of land at Jabal Wardan.

In a separate account of West Bank violence, Chronique de Palestine said the Israeli assault in the West Bank was dubbed 'Operation Iron Wall' and that it had claimed the lives of four more Palestinians over the past week.

Chronique de Palestine reported that the offensive began in Jenin and spread to the rest of northern West Bank, including Tulkarem and Tubas, and said the killings and mass displacement had become the new normal.