A string of violent Israeli settler attacks have targeted Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including children, over recent days, which comes against the backdrop of increased army raids.
On Saturday, Israeli settlers set fire to a home and vehicle belonging to two Palestinian families in Turmusayya, located north of Ramallah.
Locals told reporters that the settlers pelted Palestinians and tried to break into homes.
Israeli forces were called to the scene but were unable to prevent the settlers from leaving the area.
Turmusayya has seen a surge in settler attacks and attempts to seize large areas of Palestinian land in recent weeks.
The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said that settlers and the Israeli army carried out at least 497 attacks in the West Bank in March, with 292 of them documented in Ramallah and the al-Bireh governorate.
Early on Sunday, Israeli settlers stole around 150 sheep from a Palestinian farmer in the village of al-Mughayyir.
Sources told local media that the settlers raided land near the al-Khalayel area. Reports said that the sheep belonged to a resident named Anis Abu Alia.
In the same village, Israeli forces on Sunday assaulted a Palestinian child during a raid.
Sources told local media that the Israeli forces stormed the village from its western entrance and beat the child until they were bruised.
During the incursion, Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters at residents.
Elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians, injuring an elderly woman and members of her family in the town of Sa’ir, located northeast of Hebron.
The woman was identified as Umm Hussein Jabarin, and reports state that she was left with bruises and was transported to a nearby healthcare centre for treatment.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces detained her sons, Anas, Hussein, and Issa Mohammed Jabarin.
According to the Palestinian Wafa news agency, the settlers attacked the town while the family were working in their farmland.
Palestinians have long argued that Israeli settlers enjoy impunity and that attacks take place under the protection of Israeli forces. Rights groups also state that the investigations carried out by the police and army rarely lead to any accountability.
Earlier this week, dozens of Palestinian children were prevented from going to school in the West Bank after Israeli settlers erected barbed wire along the path they typically use.
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said in a statement that the barbed wire was part of a coordinated campaign by settlers and the Israeli army to intimidate Palestinians and drive them away from their land.
The group decried the campaign as amounting to "ethnic cleansing," as the settlers attempt to depopulate areas from Palestinians.
There has been a drastic uptick in settler attacks since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023, with Human Rights Watch stating that the Israeli government enables and abets settler violence by providing them with weapons and failing to hold them accountable.
Despite the International Court of Justice in July 2023 ruling that Israel’s 59-year occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful, Israel has continued to encroach and seize Palestinian land as well as forcibly displace communities.