Illegal Israeli settlers torch Palestinian vehicles, cut water lines in West Bank attacks

ISTANBUL

Illegal Israeli settlers carried out two separate attacks early Friday in the occupied West Bank, torching vehicles east of Ramallah and cutting water lines in the northern Jordan Valley, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

In the village of al-Taybeh, east of Ramallah, illegal settlers set fire to two cars belonging to Palestinians and spray-painted racist slogans during the raid, according to the agency.

In a separate incident, a group of illegal settlers cut water-supply lines in Khirbet al-Deir in the northern Jordan Valley, Wafa said.

Rights activist Aref Daraghmeh told the agency that illegal settlers severed hoses used to draw water from a nearby spring owned by a local resident.

According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, an official body, illegal Israeli settlers have carried out 621 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank in November alone.

More than 1,087 Palestinians have been killed and 10,700 others injured in attacks by the army and illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied territory since October 2023. Over 20,500 people have also been arrested.

In a landmark opinion in July last year, 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.