Israel arrests 13 Palestinians as settler violence surges in West Bank

Israeli forces arrested 13 Palestinians including a child during overnight raids across the occupied West Bank on Sunday, as settlers torched homes and destroyed agricultural land in a fresh escalation of violence that has surged since October 2023. The operations targeted multiple cities and villages, with the army sealing access routes and subjecting residents to field interrogations amid a broader pattern of rising settler attacks.

Arrests target northern West Bank cities

In Qalqilya, Israeli troops detained six Palestinians after raiding the city and searching homes in the Kafr Saba and al-Naqqar neighborhoods, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. The army also rounded up five Palestinians from the city of Tulkarem during an incursion, bringing the total number of arrests to 11 in the northern West Bank alone.

Israeli forces also detained two Palestinians including a child from the village of al-Rashaydeh near Bethlehem, local sources told Anadolu. The arrests occurred as the military maintained a heavy presence across the southern West Bank, where troops have intensified operations in recent weeks.

Settlers burn property and uproot crops

Occupiers burned a residential room belonging to a Palestinian in the northern part of Osarin town south of Nablus, and set fire to a vehicle while spray-painting racist slogans at the site, the sources said. Israeli settlers also attacked the Khala'il al-Louz area east of Bethlehem, damaging irrigation pipes used for crops and cutting down trees, while others uprooted olive and grape trees from Palestinian-owned land in the nearby village of al-Minya, according to Wafa.

In Ramallah, settlers burned a tent, equipment and animal feed belonging to a Palestinian farmer on the outskirts of Burqa village, local sources reported. The attacks on agricultural infrastructure form part of a documented pattern of property destruction that has accompanied the military raids since the start of Israel's war on Gaza.

Village sealed, access restricted

Israeli forces closed the western entrance to al-Mughayyir village northeast of Ramallah, preventing Palestinians from entering or leaving the community. The western entrance currently serves as the village’s only access point after the army closed its eastern entrance on October 7, 2023, according to the same sources.

Troops also subjected some Palestinians to field interrogations at the closure point and fired tear gas toward vehicles attempting to pass. The blockade has effectively isolated the village, compounding restrictions on movement that have affected numerous West Bank communities over the past 19 months.