DaysofPal- Four Palestinians were injured on Saturday evening after Israeli settlers launched an attack on the Wadi al-Rakhim area in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, amid a broader wave of assaults targeting Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley and other parts of the occupied West Bank.
Anti-settlement activist Osama Makhamra said a group of armed settlers attacked residents in Wadi al-Rakhim using stones, clubs, and pepper spray. The assault left four Palestinians suffering from bruises, wounds, and suffocation, and they were transferred to Yatta Governmental Hospital for treatment. Their injuries were described as moderate.
The violence formed part of a growing pattern of settler attacks carried out under the protection of Israeli occupation forces, as tensions continue to intensify across the occupied territory.
Attacks on Displaced Bedouin Communities
In the Jordan Valley, settlers targeted the Arab al-Kaabneh community west of al-Auja town, north of Jericho. According to the Al-Baidar Organization for Defense of Bedouin Rights, settlers cut through a metal fence surrounding the home of Palestinian resident Suleiman Kaabneh and photographed livestock inside the family’s animal shelter.
The organization said the community is home to displaced Palestinian families from the Arab al-Kaabneh tribe and has repeatedly faced attacks aimed at residents’ homes, livestock, and sources of livelihood.
In a related incident, settlers stormed the Wadi al-Hayat community, also known as Wadi Abu al-Hayat, west of al-Auja. Witnesses reported that settlers carried out provocative searches inside the area, terrorizing children and spreading fear among local residents.
Al-Baidar said settlers searched one of the homes before stealing approximately 5,000 shekels from the residence of Palestinian citizen Atallah Kaabneh.
The community, which also houses displaced Bedouin families, has increasingly become a target of settler violence as attacks across the Jordan Valley continue to rise.
Repeated Raids and Vandalism Across the West Bank
Settler militias also continued overnight and into Sunday morning to carry out attacks in several areas across the occupied West Bank, targeting Palestinian property, villages, and residential neighborhoods while operating under the protection and support of Israeli occupation forces.
In southern Hebron, settlers vandalized the memorial of slain activist Sheikh Suleiman al-Hathaleen in the village of Umm al-Khair in Masafer Yatta for the fifth time, in a repeated and deliberate act of intimidation.
In Nablus governorate, settlers stormed the village of Awarta southeast of the city, while in Hebron city, groups of settlers entered the Old City under heavy protection from the Israeli army. The incursions, which occur almost daily, are frequently accompanied by restrictions on Palestinian residents and the closure of entrances and markets in the area.
Since the start of Israel’s genocide on Gaza on October 7, 2023, settler violence across the occupied West Bank has sharply escalated, particularly in rural and Bedouin areas near settlements and outposts that are often used as launching points for attacks on Palestinians and their property.
According to Palestinian figures, attacks by Israeli occupation forces and settlers in the West Bank since that time have killed 1,162 Palestinians, injured nearly 12,245 others, and led to the arrest of around 23,000 people.
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