Israeli raids and settler attacks escalate across occupied West Bank

Israeli military forces conducted coordinated raids across the occupied West Bank on Friday, leaving dozens of Palestinians injured from tear gas exposure and resulting in at least four arrests. The operations spanned from Hebron in the southern territories to Tulkarm in the northern West Bank, with simultaneous settler attacks targeting Palestinian property east of Ramallah exacerbating the day's violence.

Northern West Bank Confrontations

In the Tulkarm district town of Anabta, Israeli troops sealed the main thoroughfare and apprehended two young men following exchanges where soldiers reportedly fired live rounds indiscriminately. Further south in Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, forces detained two Palestinian youths and briefly held several others within a commercial complex during a raid that disrupted normal civilian activities in the central West Bank town.

Southern West Bank Clashes

The town of Beit Ummar north of Hebron witnessed intense confrontations as Palestinian youths confronted Israeli soldiers who had entered the community. According to Palestinian activist Mohammad Awad, military personnel deployed stun grenades and tear gas canisters toward both protesters and residential buildings, generating multiple cases of suffocation that required on-site medical intervention. Meanwhile, in Al-Bireh, a commercial structure caught fire after Israeli forces targeted it with stun and tear gas grenades during another operation.

Settler Violence and Historical Context

Illegal Israeli settlers escalated tensions by setting fire to Palestinian vehicles in Al-Mughayyir village east of Ramallah. Local sources reported that settlers penetrated the village's western sector before igniting multiple cars, prompting Palestinian youth intervention and subsequent Israeli military deployment that fired crowd control munitions. These incidents occur within a documented pattern of 7,154 settler attacks over two years that have killed 33 Palestinians and displaced 33 Bedouin communities, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.