Israeli settlers commit arson and vandalism in connection with West Bank attacks Israel-Palestine conflict news
Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have set fire to farmland and chanted racist slogans in a village near Ramallah, according to news reports, as arson attacks and deadly Israeli military raids have increased in recent days.
The attacks came as Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s internal security agency Shin Bet (Shabak), on Friday urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to greenlight a major military offensive into the occupied territory.
Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing witnesses, reported on Friday that a group of settlers attacked a farm on the outskirts of Khirbet Abu Falah, where they burned a shed and left racist graffiti in Hebrew on the walls.
Footage published online by the Quds News Network shows an alleged arson attack.
Palestinian civil defense teams were deployed to extinguish the fire. There is no news of anyone being injured in the attack that took place on Thursday night.
Wafa reported that Khirbet Abu Falah, as well as the town of Turmus Aya and the village of al-Mughayyir, located northeast of Ramallah, have been subject to repeated raids by Israeli settlers, who reportedly carried them out under the protection of Israeli soldiers. .
Earlier, Israeli settlers also set fire to a Palestinian-owned vehicle in the village of Wadi Rahal, south of Bethlehem, according to Al Quds Today.
The most recent attack on Israeli settlers came after Palestinian gunmen shot dead three Israeli settlers near the illegal settlement of Kedumim on Monday.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), at least 18 Palestinians were injured in attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied territory in the first week of 2025.
During the same period, at least three Palestinians, including a teenager, were killed by Israeli forces, while three other Palestinians, including a child, were killed under disputed circumstances, according to OCHA reports.
The data does not include three other Palestinians, including two children, who were killed in an Israeli drone strike in the occupied West Bank city of Tammun on Wednesday.
On Friday, Israeli forces continued raids in the occupied West Bank, firing grenades and arresting several Palestinians.
In Qabatiya, south of Jenin, Israeli forces disguised in civilian clothes surrounded a house and bombarded it with projectiles, Wafa said, quoting residents of the area.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
According to OCHA, since the beginning of 2025, more than 50 million Palestinians have been displaced due to Israeli home demolitions in the occupied West Bank.
Overnight, several Israeli raids were also recorded in Nablus and several young Palestinians were arrested.
Footage posted on Telegram and verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency shows the moment Israeli forces detained dozens of youths during an attack on the town of Deir Istiya, northwest of Salfit.
Israeli forces also raided the town of al-Khadr, south of Bethlehem; the city of Nilin, west of Ramallah; the villages of Hajjah and Bakat al-Hataab, east of Qalqilya; and the Jalazon refugee camp, a frequent target of Israeli military operations.
Shin Bet’s Bar was quoted in a Channel 12 news report on Friday as saying Israel should learn from the October 7 Hamas attack and launch a major offensive in the occupied West Bank.
“A comprehensive, reality-altering step must be initiated that will dismantle and eliminate the phenomenon of armed Palestinian battalions … in order to ensure our freedom of operations there.”
