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Settlers attacked Abu Falah village in central occupied West Bank on Monday, while the Israeli army fired at Palestinians who tried to counter the attack.
The Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) said that a group of settlers attacked houses on the outskirts of the village and attempted to break into some of them, while the villagers resisted.
The agency added that the Israeli forces fired live bullets at the villagers during their resistance to the attack, while simultaneously invading the village and spreading in several of its neighborhoods, with no reported injuries.
In a separate incident, settlers attacked a Palestinian vehicle and assaulted its driver in the "Wad Amar" area near Turmus Ayya town, northeast of Ramallah city (central).
Local sources told Anadolu Agency that a group of settlers attacked the vehicle as it passed through the area and assaulted its driver, and sprayed pepper gas on a number of young men who tried to reach the scene.
Last August, the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, described Israelis involved in acts of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank as "terrorists," warning that such practices severely damage Israel's image.
Last June, fourteen UN rapporteurs warned that the sharp escalation in the pace of "settler terrorism" with the support and complicity of the Israeli state in the occupied Palestinian territory poses an existential threat to Palestinian communities.
About 750,000 settlers live in 156 settlements and 360 outposts in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and commit almost daily terrorist attacks aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians from their lands.
In this context, local sources reported that Israeli forces closed the iron gate at the entrance to Turmus Ayya town, north of Ramallah, in both directions, and set up a military checkpoint at the entrance to Nabi Saleh village, northwest of the city, and searched the vehicles of citizens and checked their identities.
The sources added that the Israeli army set up a checkpoint at the entrance to Jaba' town, and closed the gate at the Ein Siniya area, north of Ramallah, causing obstruction of the movement of citizens and vehicles in the area.
The West Bank has witnessed an escalation in Israeli raids and arrests since October 2023, coinciding with an escalation in settler terrorism, movement restrictions, and the closure of entrances to Palestinian towns and villages.
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