Illegal Israeli settlers have increased incursions into the Palestinian town of Taybeh, the last fully Christian community in the occupied West Bank, the town’s Latin parish priest said Thursday.

Father Bashar Fawadleh told Vatican Radio that the latest incidents mark a shift, with attacks expanding beyond the town’s eastern areas. He said Israeli police responded about an hour after being notified, but settlers returned shortly after being removed.

“The police came one hour after our phone call … after that they came back in 15 or 30 minutes. And now they are inside the land,” Fawadleh said.

He warned the incursions may be part of a broader effort to expand settlement control along a corridor stretching from east of Jerusalem toward the Jordan Valley. Taybeh, which spans about 4,000 acres, is increasingly vulnerable to land encroachment, he added.

Residents also face growing restrictions, including checkpoints and barriers limiting movement across the West Bank.

Describing conditions as “very difficult,” Fawadleh called for peace and justice. “We are a civilian Palestinian people. We want to live in peace. We want to live in justice,” he said, urging international intervention.

Local sources cited by Vatican News said settlers entered a cement factory and quarry on the town’s western outskirts on Wednesday, where they conducted religious rituals and raised an Israeli flag.

Since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 8, 2023, attacks by Israeli forces and illegal settlers in the West Bank have killed 1,133 Palestinians, injured about 11,700 others, and led to the arrest of roughly 22,000 people.

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

In a landmark opinion in July 2024, 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.