RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL 

At least seven Palestinians were injured in attacks by Israeli army forces and illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, officials said.

The Jerusalem Governorate said in a statement that three Palestinians, including a child, were wounded when illegal settlers attacked the town of Hizma, northeast of East Jerusalem. The attackers also set fire to Palestinian-owned property in the town.

According to the official news agency Wafa, illegal settlers opened fire in the town’s eastern part, injuring two young men and a boy.

Settlers also burned down a shack belonging to a local resident in the area, Wafa said.

In another attack, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that its medics transported a young man to a hospital after he was assaulted by illegal settlers in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron.

According to witnesses, a group of illegal settlers attacked residents of the Susiya community near the town, throwing stones and injuring a young man.

In the northern West Bank, illegal settlers stormed the village of Al-Mughayyir near Ramallah, but were forced to retreat after residents confronted them, Wafa reported.

Settlers also used off-road vehicles to chase Palestinian shepherds in the Khirbet Samra area of the northern Jordan Valley, forcing them off their land, the broadcaster said.

In a related development, Mahdi Daraghmeh, head of the al-Malih village council in the Jordan Valley, told Anadolu that six Palestinian families - totaling more than 25 people - were forced to dismantle their shelters and leave Khirbet Samra due to repeated settler attacks.

Meanwhile, illegal Israeli settlers raided a Palestinian Bedouin community in the West Bank.

“Israeli settlers stormed the Arab al-Melihat community northwest of Jericho under the protection of (Israeli) occupation forces, carrying out provocative actions,” said the Al-Baydar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights in a statement.

The raid was the latest in “(Israeli) policies of intimidation and systematic pressure on Bedouin communities,” it said.

According to the group, illegal settlers also attempted to build a new settlement outpost in the Al-Mintar area near the village of Kardala in the northeastern West Bank.

Groups of illegal settlers gathered and tried to set up several caravans in the area under army protection, it added.

Separately, illegal settlers seized a drove of cattle belonging to a Palestinian resident in the Al-Hamma area of the northern Jordan Valley, Wafa said.

In the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya, the settlers uprooted and damaged 180 trees belonging to a Palestinian resident, including 55 olive trees and 25 citrus trees, the agency said.

They also destroyed nearly 100 olive saplings belonging to another local farmer, Wafa added.

Palestinian figures show that at least 415 settler attacks were recorded last month across the occupied territory.

According to Israeli government data, illegal settlers staged 414 attacks against Palestinians in the first half of this year, up 30% from 2024.

Meanwhile, a young Palestinian was injured by Israeli army fire in Hebron in the southern West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.

An 85-year-old Palestinian was also hospitalized after being beaten by Israeli army forces in Mesafer Yatta, southern Hebron, it added.

A third Palestinian was wounded by Israeli fire in Jenin in the northern West Bank, the group said.

Since the start of Israel’s assault on Gaza in October 2023, at least 986 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

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