Israeli settler attacks injure four Palestinians in occupied West Bank

Israeli settlers injured four Palestinians and attacked multiple homes across the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said, as documentation shows a sharp rise in violence against civilians in the territory.

Attacks in northern West Bank

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement that its crews transported four injured people to hospital — three of whom were shot and one who suffered severe beatings — following attacks on the town of Madama, south of Nablus. The official Palestinian radio station, Voice of Palestine, reported that settlers opened fire on a Palestinian home in the town. Early Saturday, settlers attacked several homes at dawn in nearby Beita, threw stones at houses and smashed vehicles, and residents confronted the attackers while Israeli forces fired light bombs into the sky, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Southern violence and documented surge

In the southern West Bank, settlers attacked Palestinian farmland and damaged several trees in Khirbet el-Muraq in Masafer Yatta, activist Osama Makhamra told reporters, describing the latest in a series of violations south of Hebron. Settlers carried out 540 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, during April alone, according to a monthly report by the Palestinian state-run Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission. The attacks ranged from direct physical violence and uprooting trees to burning fields, preventing farmers from accessing their land, seizing property, and demolishing homes, the commission noted.

According to Palestinian figures, Israeli forces and settlers have killed 1,168 Palestinians, injured 12,666 others, displaced around 33,000 people, and detained nearly 23,000 in the West Bank since the start of the genocidal Gaza war in October 2023. The assaults on Saturday come amid heightened tensions across the territory, where Israeli army raids and arrests have intensified over the past 19 months.