DaysofPal- A Palestinian youth was killed, and several homes and vehicles were torched in a series of violent attacks carried out by Israeli settlers and Israeli occupation forces (IOF) early Thursday in the central West Bank.
Local sources identified the martyr as Khamis Abdel Latif Ayad, who died after being struck by a tear gas canister fired by Israeli soldiers into his home during confrontations in the town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah.
The incident occurred as residents attempted to fend off a large-scale settler assault.
According to eyewitnesses, dozens of armed Israeli settlers stormed Silwad at dawn under heavy military protection, setting fire to several civilian vehicles and attempting to burn down at least one home.
IOF later entered the town and opened fire with live bullets, rubber-coated metal rounds, and large volumes of tear gas, sparking intense clashes with local youth.
The wave of violence continued across neighboring villages. In Ramon and Abu Falah, also located east of Ramallah, settlers launched coordinated attacks that resulted in the burning of multiple Palestinian homes and vehicles.
The assaults come amid a sharp rise in settler violence across the West Bank. The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission reports that over 2,150 settler attacks have occurred since the beginning of 2025, nearly double the total number recorded in all of 2024.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has recorded approximately 350 Palestinian injuries caused by settler violence in 2025 alone, highlighting the worsening human rights situation in the occupied territories.
Local human rights groups and international observers continue to warn of the Israeli military’s complicity in settler attacks, noting that such assaults often occur under the direct protection of army units, as seen in the Silwad raid.
Palestinian officials have called for urgent international intervention to curb settler violence and hold the Israeli government accountable for the escalating crimes in the occupied West Bank.
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