Israeli soldiers have intensified their offensive in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, raiding at least 20 towns and villages, demolishing homes and arresting dozens of Palestinians, as Arab states and the Arab League condemn escalating settler attacks against Palestinians and their property.
Al Jazeera reporters in the occupied West Bank reported on Monday that Israeli forces had stormed the Jabal Salman area in the town of Beita, south of Nablus, and carried out demolition operations in the town of Nilin, west of Ramallah. In a separate incursion, forces stormed the town of Arrabeh in Jenin, accompanied by military bulldozers.
Raids and arrests were also reported in Deir al-Ghusun, north of Tulkarem, where five Palestinians were detained. Four young men were arrested during raids on the Balata camp and Asira al-Shamaliya in Nablus. Soldiers raided homes and made arrests in several other villages and towns, including Deir Jarir, Jalbon, Kafr Qaddum, Tal, Burqa, Beit Furik, Anabta, the Aktaba suburb, Qalqilya, Arroub camp and Beit Ummar.
Quds News reported that Israeli soldiers halted an ambulance trying to transport a pregnant woman from the town of Qaryut to a Nablus hospital, leading to a miscarriage. In the Abu Fuzaa encampment near Taybeh village east of Ramallah, settlers attacked Palestinians, and in Al-Burj village, south of Hebron, settlers released cattle among olive trees, damaging agricultural land.
“Palestinians felt trapped and defenceless, with no one to protect them,” Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim reported, “while the Israeli settlers have the support of the Israeli army and have the impunity to continue attacking Palestinians without any accountability.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sent letters to several world leaders, the European Union, the Arab League and the president of the UN Security Council, calling for urgent action.
Francesca Albanese, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian Territories, described settler attacks as “pogroms against defenceless civilians.” The UAE, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain issued statements condemning the attacks. The Arab League warned that the situation was approaching a “moment of explosion.”
The Spanish government said Israel “must reverse its policies of settlement expansion and of shielding settler violence against the Palestinian civilian population.” Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi described settler attacks on mosques as “systematic fascist crimes.” Haaretz quoted Israeli military officials describing the situation in the West Bank as “extremely dangerous and volatile.”
Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim noted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is escalating attacks to appease his far-right coalition and show voters a tough stance on Palestinians. Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed nearly 1,200 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to Arab League figures, in addition to more than 73,000 killed in Gaza.
Source: www.aljazeera.com