Israeli forces beat 4 Palestinians in West Bank, settlers torch part of village council building

ISTANBUL

Israeli forces beat four Palestinians in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, while illegal Israeli settlers set fire to part of a local council building, Palestinian sources reported.

Three young men were injured late Thursday after Israeli soldiers assaulted them during a raid on Aqabat Jaber refugee camp south of Jericho in the eastern West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement.

Medical teams “treated three injuries caused by beatings by Israeli forces against young men in Aqabat Jaber camp after troops raided the camp,” the organization said.

In Salfit in the northern West Bank, Israeli soldiers beat a young man from the village of Iskaka east of the city while he was passing near the city’s northern entrance Thursday, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

The man suffered bruises from the assault and was taken to a hospital, while Israeli forces also seized about 35,000 shekels (about $11,000) he was carrying, according to WAFA.

Separately, illegal Israeli settlers set fire Thursday to part of the building of the Ainabus village council south of Nablus in the northern West Bank.

Illegal settlers from the nearby Yitzhar settlement attacked the northern edge of the village and set fire to a storage facility belonging to the council building before the blaze was brought under control, WAFA reported.

Israeli forces later entered the village in large numbers and raided the homes of Mamoun Rashdan and Mohammed Rashdan, who were killed earlier Thursday by Israeli gunfire near the Za’tara junction south of Nablus, the agency added.

Attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian towns, villages, and communities in the West Bank have increased since the war in Gaza began Oct. 8, 2023, leaving 42 Palestinians dead, according to data from the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission.

Overall violence by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank has killed 1,127 Palestinians, injured about 11,700, and led to roughly 22,000 arrests, according to official Palestinian figures.

In addition to killings and arrests, Israeli forces and settlers have carried out demolitions, property destruction, forced displacement, and settlement expansion across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which the international community considers occupied territory.

*Writing by Lina Altawell