ISTANBUL

At least 17 Palestinians and foreign activists were injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers across the occupied West Bank on Saturday, local media said.

A group of illegal settlers stormed the outskirts of the Abu Falah village, northeast of Ramallah, and torched a one-story home, causing parts of the house to burn, local sources told the state news agency Wafa.

Israeli forces raided the area and opened fire at residents who gathered near the scene, though no injuries were reported, the agency said.

The UN warned on Friday of a sharp rise in illegal Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, reporting 264 settler attacks in October alone, the highest monthly toll in nearly two decades.

“That's the highest monthly toll in nearly two decades of record keeping, averaging more than eight incidents every single day since 2006,” UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said, citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In a separate attack, Palestinian farmers, journalists, and foreign activists sustained fractures and bruises after illegal settlers assaulted them during an olive-harvesting activity in the town of Beita, south of Nablus, Wafa said.

Mohammad Hamayel, deputy mayor of Beita, said that illegal settlers attacked participants harvesting olives in the Qamas Mountain area.

Among those injured were foreign solidarity activists, paramedics, and journalists, including Reuters reporter Raneen Sawafta and two journalists from Al Jazeera, according to local sources cited by Anadolu.

The Health Ministry said that its medics treated 11 people who sustained injuries after being beaten by Israeli forces and illegal settlers in Beita, noting that their conditions were stable.

In the nearby village of Burin, a Palestinian and four foreign activists were injured after Israeli settlers attacked them while harvesting olives east of the village, according to a statement from the Palestinian Red Crescent.

In the village of Furush Beit Dajan, east of Nablus, settlers assaulted Palestinian farmers and international supporters working on village lands, with no injuries reported, according to a statement from the Bedouin rights group Al-Baidar.

In Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah, illegal settlers cut down several olive trees, Wafa reported.

On Saturday morning, a Palestinian sustained bruises and wounds after Israeli soldiers assaulted him in the town of Yatta, south of Hebron, according to the agency.

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.