Armed Israeli settlers launched a wave of attacks on Palestinian properties in several areas of the occupied West Bank overnight, torching homes, vehicles and olive trees.
More than 20 vehicles were targeted in the central West Bank city of al-Bireh on Sunday night. Many online described the incident as a “pogrom”, with most set ablaze and left smouldering wrecks.
Video footage posted online showed Palestinians attempting to put out fires enveloping buildings and cars. Roads were left charred the morning after.
According to local news agency Wafa, the settlers opened fire at civil defence search-and-rescue workers attempting to extinguish the flames.
Settlers later set fire to a parking lot and scrawled offensive graffiti on walls in the nearby Deir Dibwan town, east Ramallah, before fleeing.
Mohammed Amr, a resident of the area, told Middle East Eye that he woke up at 3.15 a.m. to odd noises near the building where he lives.
Looking out the window, he saw a group of people pouring flammable material and burning vehicles.
“The settlers infiltrated from the Beit El settlement and came through the military checkpoint that separates it from the city of al-Bireh.
“Then they walked through the agricultural lands to reach the buildings adjacent to it, where I saw at least eight to ten settlers,” he said.
According to Amr, the settlers attempted to storm a home, but Palestinian residents gathered to prevent them, so they withdrew to Beit El.
“Our situation is like all Palestinian cities are prown to settler terrorism,” Amr said.
Al-Bireh Mayor, Robin al-Khatib, described the event as dangerous, especially since it was the first time that such a large number of vehicles were burned.
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“The arrival of settlers to residential buildings and burning their surroundings is a dangerous indicator of the possibility of them reaching the heart of al-Bireh or Ramallah and carrying out larger attacks,” he told MEE.
The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the attack.
In a post on X, it blamed the “protection and immunity granted by the Israeli political leadership”. And the “international failure to halt genocide” in Gaza for the aggression.
Hamas called for escalation against settlers, saying Palestinians should confront them with “all means of resistance” following the attack.
Settler attacks continued into Monday morning and were reported across the West Bank.
Olive groves attacked
A clip circulating online showed confrontations between settlers and Palestinians in Burqa town, northwest of Nablus.
A man, in the video, describes how Israelis burnt Palestinian land, olive trees and two houses.
The man also said the settlers had kidnapped someone. Middle East Eye is unable to confirm the claim.
Mahmoud Motan, a resident of Burqa, told MEE that a major settler attack targeted the village from three directions.
He said they torched dozens of olive trees, which he noted were hundreds of years old and therefore older than Israel itself.
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Settlers wounded several Palestinians, who tried to confront the attackers.
Armed settlers also obstructed firemen from accessing the burning agricultural lands, causing the flames to spread widely.
An hour into the attack, the Israeli army stormed the village and arrested two young Palestinians.
They carried out the arrest under the pretext of confronting the settler attack.
In Qusra, south of Nablus, settlers flooded in under the protection of Israeli soldiers, forcing Palestinian inhabitants to leave and preventing farmers from picking olives, Wafa reported.
The olive harvest season in the West Bank has been subject to repeated attacks by settlers and Israeli forces.
Several areas of Hebron witnessed raids and attacks on olive pickers. One case of attempted burglary of a car reported in Yatta.
Hours after the attack on al-Bireh, the Israeli army stormed the area and raided several homes, including Amr’s house. They confiscated surveillance recordings.
“The army is trying to show us that it will investigate, but as with all attacks against Palestinians, nothing happens.
“Settlers don’t enter the Palestinian areas without the cover of the Israeli army,” Amr said. (MEE)
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