At least 19 Palestinians have been injured in a series of Israeli military raids and attacks by illegal settlers across the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian health officials and local media reports.
Israeli forces shot and wounded three Palestinians attempting to enter occupied East Jerusalem near the separation wall in ar-Ram, the Jerusalem Governorate said on Saturday. The governorate described the incident as part of near daily attacks against Palestinian workers who have been barred from their jobs in Israel since what it called the genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023.
In the Tubas Governorate in the northern West Bank, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said its crews treated at least 11 Palestinians, including four children, for tear gas inhalation during Israeli army raids.
Further south, in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, an elderly man was beaten and bruised by armed settlers. Israeli forces then raided his home, damaged its contents and confiscated his family’s phones, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
The Palestine Red Crescent also reported that two young men were hospitalised after being beaten by Israeli settlers in Arrabeh, south of Jenin. A 15-year-old boy was hospitalised after a severe beating by settlers in Tammun, in Tubas province, where another child was injured in a settler assault.
In separate attacks on Friday, the Israeli army and settlers killed two Palestinians, with fatalities reported in both Hebron and Jenin.
Meanwhile, in Qusra, south of Nablus, the Hassan and Abu Rida families remain besieged in their homes for a 14th consecutive day by settlers, with Israeli forces maintaining a closed military zone around the site. Residents accuse the army of inaction, which they say amounts to complicity in the families’ possible forced displacement.
The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said Israeli settlers now number roughly 780,000 across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, living among 192 settlements and 400 outposts. The commission noted that this presence has risen to 71 percent of Area C and 91 percent of the Jordan Valley.
The United Nations humanitarian affairs office recorded more than 1,330 attacks on Palestinians linked to settlers in the occupied West Bank between January and late July, averaging roughly six a day. That marks the fastest pace since the agency began systematic tracking two decades ago.
More than 2,300 Palestinians have been forced from their homes so far this year due to settler violence or the restrictions that accompany it, according to UN figures. Separately, a commission of inquiry appointed by the UN has found that Israeli authorities repeatedly failed to prevent foreseeable settler attacks and, in some cases, directly enabled them through army protection and the provision of weapons and funding.
