Ramallah, Palestine/ISTANBUL

Israeli forces detained 23 Palestinians in overnight raids across the occupied West Bank on Sunday, while illegal settlers carried out a series of assaults against residents in separate attacks, according to Palestinian and rights groups.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said troops carried out house raids in several districts, detaining five Palestinians in villages around Nablus, seven in the Tulkarem area, four in Hebron and seven in Bethlehem. Homes were searched and vandalized during the operations, the agency reported.

Meanwhile, the Bedouin rights group Al-Baidar said illegal settlers attacked a 65-year-old Palestinian and his sons east of Ramallah, beating them severely and leaving them with head injuries and bruises. Settlers also smashed a vehicle in the area.

In a separate attack in Atara, north of Ramallah, illegal settlers pelted the car of a Palestinian resident with stones, shattering its windows before stealing his phone and cash. Earlier in the day, settlers released livestock onto Palestinian farmland nearby, damaging crops and trees, the group said.

In the northern Jordan Valley, illegal settlers raided the village of al-Sakut, stealing an uninhabited residential tent along with agricultural equipment and tools.

According to the Palestinian Authority’s Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, illegal settlers committed 431 attacks on Palestinians and their property in August alone. The commission estimates some 770,000 settlers live in 180 settlements and 256 outposts, including 136 designated as grazing outposts.

Since October 2023, at least 1,042 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.

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.