RAMALLAH, Palestine / ISTANBUL

A Palestinian resident of al-Mughayir village, east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, described a night of terror after illegal Israeli settlers attacked his home and property late Friday.

About 50 illegal settlers stormed his property, smashed doors and garage gates, and set fire to four vehicles belonging to him and his relatives, Mohammad Abu Alya told Anadolu.

“I called the young men of the village to alert them,” Abu Alya said. “They came quickly and managed to push the illegal settlers back toward a nearby settlement built on our village’s land.”

Local sources told Anadolu that illegal settlers also attacked another home and a farm in the village. Israeli forces entered al-Mughayir at the same time, firing sound grenades and tear gas, which led to clashes whose toll remains unknown.

Abu Alya said this was not the first such attack, recalling that illegal settlers had burned 18 vehicles in the same village last year. He warned that assaults on al-Mughayir “are becoming daily, systematic, and coordinated between the army and the illegal settlers.”

According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, illegal Israeli settlers carried out 7,154 assaults on Palestinians and their properties in the occupied West Bank over the course of two years, which resulted in the death of 33 Palestinians and forced migration of 33 Bedouin communities.

Authorities said that more than 1,057 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, 10,300 wounded, and more than 20,000 arrested, including 1,600 children, since the onslaught in the Gaza Strip began two years ago.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.