Israeli settlers attack Jalud village in occupied West Bank, torch homes

Israeli settlers have attacked a Palestinian village in the northern occupied West Bank, setting fire to homes and vehicles, in the latest assault in a wave of pogroms across the territory.

Settlers set ablaze two homes belonging to the Tubasi family in Jalud, hours after the family tried to return to them under an Israeli court decision after nearly two months of displacement, local sources told Turkiye’s Anadolu news agency on Tuesday.

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Villagers tried to confront the settlers before Israeli forces arrived at the scene, the sources added.

The fires caused extensive damage to the two homes while the attack spread panic among residents, the sources told Anadolu.

According to the sources, Israeli forces provided protection to the settlers and sent additional military reinforcements to the area.

Israeli forces also compelled members of the Tubasi family to evacuate their homes again at gunpoint, the sources were quoted as saying.

In a statement, the Israeli military said more than 100 settlers rioted in Jalud overnight, preventing Israeli forces from facilitating the return of a displaced Palestinian family to their home by blocking roads, setting tyres on fire and throwing stones at security forces.

“Soldiers and Israel Border Police forces operated in the area of Jalud to disperse Israeli rioters and protect the residents of the area, as the return of a Palestinian family to their home in the area had been coordinated,” a statement said.

“Due to the violence, the mission to return the family to their home was not completed,” the military added.

Homeowner Mahmoud Tubasi told Anadolu that the family returned under the court order but found extensive destruction caused by settlers who had taken over the property and prevented its owners from accessing it.

The settlers returned during the night and set the house on fire, destroying it and rendering it uninhabitable, he added.

The Tubasi family was forced to leave their homes in Jalud in July after repeated harassment and violence by settlers.

Israeli violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has been steadily growing since the eruption of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, but the pogroms have intensified significantly this year.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recorded more than 1,330 settler-related attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank from January to late July, averaging six a day and representing the fastest pace in about 20 years.

Settler groups, often supported or protected by Israeli soldiers, have attacked Palestinians in several ways, including shooting them, besieging homes and engaging in other forms of communal violence that experts have described as pogroms.

Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land are illegal under international law.

Israeli raids continue

In a separate attack on Tuesday, Israeli settlers assaulted an elderly Palestinian woman after breaking into her home in Qaryut, south of Nablus, local sources told Anadolu.

A video filmed by volunteer medic Bashar al-Qaryuti showed the woman suffered bruises to her hand and head.

She said a group of settlers broke down the door of the house and assaulted the woman.

In al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah in the central West Bank, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian homes and property as Israeli army forces raided the village and detained a young man.

The attack targeted three homes while the assailants set fire to another home belonging to a Palestinian detainee, witnesses told Anadolu.

“The frequent and severe violence must be brought to an end,” Julien Lerisson, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross’s delegation for Israel and the occupied territory, said on Monday about the rising settler activity.

“Authorities have a responsibility to protect the population from violence, including when that violence is inflicted by settlers. What international humanitarian law says on the protection of private and public property and on the population’s access to essential services must be respected,” he said.

In August, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee described Israeli settlers involved in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as “terrorists”, warning that such acts cause serious damage to Israel’s image.

In June, 14 UN special rapporteurs warned that the sharp rise in “settler terror” with state support and complicity in occupied Palestinian territory posed an existential threat to Palestinian communities.