DaysofPal – Israeli settlers set fire Tuesday evening to Palestinian homes and vehicles in the village of Susya in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron, in an escalation that left several people injured and residents in shock during the month of Ramadan. The attacks took place at the same time as clashes close to Nablus and attacks on shepherds in the southern West Bank.
The Al-Baidar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights said in a statement that settlers stormed the village and burned five homes and several cars belonging to Palestinian residents, causing extensive property damage and spreading fear among families, particularly women and children.
Local sources reported that the attackers fired tear gas canisters into some houses, leading to four cases of suffocation. Surveillance footage circulating online captured masked individuals entering the village and igniting fires in residential properties. Israel’s public broadcaster Kan aired similar footage showing masked settlers torching homes and vehicles in Susya.
The violence spread to other parts of the Hebron governorate. According to the Palestinian Information Center, settlers chased shepherds from the al-Naameen family in Khirbet Aqwais in Masafer Yatta, part of ongoing pressure on Palestinian rural communities.
Settlers also released livestock near Palestinian homes in the areas of Khirbet al-Halawa, al-Markaz, and al-Tubban, and forced entry into several houses. Armed groups gathered near the settlement of Asfar in Wadi Sa’ir, north of Hebron, blocking roads and preventing Palestinians from accessing the bypass highway.
In the northern West Bank, dozens of young Palestinians confronted settlers who attacked Jabal Bir Qawza in the town of Beita, south of Nablus, highlighting the widening scope of field confrontations.
The latest incidents come during a period of sharp escalation in settler violence. In January alone, around 468 attacks were recorded across the West Bank, including physical assaults, uprooting of trees, arson targeting farmland, and obstruction of farmers’ access to their land.
Approximately 770,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements built on occupied West Bank territory, including about 250,000 in East Jerusalem. Since the outbreak of the Gaza genocide in October 2023, attacks by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank have intensified, resulting in the killing of at least 1,117 Palestinians, the injury of around 11,500 others, and the arrest of nearly 22,000. Palestinian officials warn that the escalation is paving the way for new realities on the ground aimed at displacement and the annexation of parts of the West Bank.
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