Hundreds of heavily armed extremist settlers invaded Palestinian villages and towns in the occupied West Bank and violently attacked the residents for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday, June 25. The settlers’ attacks started last week on Tuesday in the aftermath of a deadly raid on Monday by the Israeli army in the city of Jenin in which at least five Palestinians were killed and over 130 injured. In retaliation, Palestinian resistance fighters allegedly killed four Israeli settlers. Subsequently, the settlers launched attacks across the occupied West Bank, with the Israeli security forces accompanying them in many places. The Israeli forces also carried out several violent raids of their own.
So far, 16 Palestinians have been killed and dozens injured since the beginning of the attacks last week. The settlers and security forces have also caused extensive damage to Palestinian homes, cars, farmlands, crops, and crucial civilian infrastructure such as electricity grids.
Reports noted that on Sunday, the settlers set on fire at least 10 houses and seven vehicles in the village of Umm Safa. They also burnt crops in the town of Turmusaya, north of Ramallah, and fired live ammunition at the Palestinian residents and their houses. A day earlier, on Saturday, settlers carried out systematic and well-coordinated attacks on Palestinian villages in the West Bank, which reports describes as an organized “pogrom.” The attacks included the targeting of electricity grids, which caused power blackouts in the villages of Umm Safa, Deir Sudan, Ajjoul, and Attarah.
Israeli settlers also stormed the Al-Aqsa mosque compound over the weekend in violation of international law and attacked Palestinian worshipers and bystanders. They reportedly carried out provocative tours of the complex, shouting racist slogans and performing forbidden Jewish rituals inside the mosque complex. They also reportedly desecrated the Quran by burning it.
The Israeli police and army detained a number of suspects in the attack on Umm Safa, one of them reportedly an off-duty Israeli soldier. Both the army and the police admitted that they had failed to quell the setter violence. In a joint statement, the heads of the military, the police, and domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet condemned the setter attacks.
So far this year, Israeli forces and settlers have killed a total of 171 Palestinians, including 26 children, in the West Bank and Gaza. Of these, 135 Palestinians were killed in raids and attacks carried out by Israeli security forces and settlers across the West Bank.
Raids are being carried out with increasing frequency following the recently introduced Israeli policy called ‘Break the Wave’ to suppress Palestinian armed resistance arising out of the West Bank. Under this campaign, Israel has implemented a shoot-to-kill policy, enabling security forces to indiscriminately shoot and kill Palestinians without accountability. They have also carried out mass arrests of Palestinians in the West Bank and thrown hundreds of Palestinians in administrative detention without charge or trial.
