Several Palestinians wounded as Israeli settlers launch 20 weekend West Bank attacks

A Palestinian man attacked on 8 May 2026

Matan Golan reports in Haaretz on 10 May 2026:

Israeli settlers carried out more than 20 attacks across the West Bank over Friday and Saturday, according to Palestinian reports, wounding several people, including a pregnant woman, while setting homes ablaze, vandalizing property and uprooting olive trees.

The Israeli military has not responded to all but one of the reported incidents.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said a 35-year-old pregnant woman and a 65-year-old woman were wounded in an alleged settler attack on the village of Jurish, near Nablus, on Saturday. Palestinian reports said settlers threw stones at homes in the village, entered several residences and assaulted residents.

In one of the attacks, residents of Duyuk near Jericho said settlers entered their homes early Saturday and beat people with clubs while they were in their beds. Three people were taken for medical treatment, Palestinian reports said, adding that a military Humvee blocked access to the area during the attack.

In a compound set up by displaced members of the Bedouin community of Ras Ein al-Auja outside of the site of the now-expelled village, a resident testified that seven to eight masked settlers arrived in a quad and cars and attacked both his brother and his brother’s wife.  He said they struck her legs and “cracked open my brother’s head,” for which he received four stitches.  An hour after the incident, while his brother was at the hospital, the IDF arrived at the scene, questioned his nephew, and arrested him. “We moved here in January after fleeing Ras al-Ain al-Auja. We thought that in Area A settlers wouldn’t attack and harass us, but they are coming to us even here.”

Area A refers to parts of the West Bank that, under the Oslo Accords, are under full civil and security control of the Palestinian Authority. Members of the Ras Ein al-Auja Bedouin community fled there earlier this year after repeated settler attacks and harassment near their original village, believing the area would offer greater safety from Israeli settlers and limit the Israeli military’s presence.

The Israeli military responded to the incident saying that an investigation is ongoing, and that they responded to a report in which “Israeli civilians entered private Palestinian territory in Area A, threw stones, and shot into the air – but no suspects were found.”

Settlers were recorded patrolling between the homes of residents in the village of Raba in the northern West Bank, (near al-Mughayyir).

In an incident between Jurish and Aqraba near Ariel, settlers were reported to have thrown stones at Palestinian homes and even broken into them and beaten their occupants.

In the area of the village of Beit Furik, south of Nablus, settlers were documented on Saturday blocking the road of a Palestinian tractor with a quad and preventing it from working the fields. This followed reports that settlers from Itamar and Gitit had damaged agricultural facilities and infrastructure east of the village using bulldozers.

On Friday, settlers were reported to have uprooted olive trees on the outskirts of the village of Qusra near Nablus. According to another report, settlers set fire to a house on the outskirts of Kafr Laban al-Sharqiya, south of the city. The structure was unoccupied and no injuries were reported.

Overnight between Thursday and Friday, settlers were reported to have set fire to cars in the village of Abu Falah, north of Ramallah and sprayed graffiti on the walls. Footage from the scene showed a burning vehicle and the slogans “Friends, get revenge” and “Revenge for detainees in the Shin Bet” written on the walls.

In recent months, attacks on the village have become more frequent following the establishment of new outposts on its land, and in March three residents were shot dead by settlers. In parallel, IDF forces operating in the village were filmed throwing tear gas at a residential home.

A car reportedly set on fire by Israeli settlers in Abu Falah, on Friday. Credit: Use under Section 27A of the Copyright Law.
In the south Hebron Hills, settlers attacked residents, broke into homes and damaged property. Settlers attacked an elderly Palestinian while he was harvesting his crops on Saturday near the settlement of Havat Ma’on.

Footage published on Friday showed a father and son bleeding from their heads in the village of Shweikeh near the town of Ad-Dhahiriya, who were also reportedly attacked while working their land.

In another incident around the same time, settlers were documented patrolling homes in Wadi al-Rahim near Susya and damaging a house door. According to one report, masked individuals also broke into another home and destroyed property. On Saturday morning, it was reported that settlers attacked a Palestinian filling containers from a water well in the village and sprayed him with pepper spray, and later attempted to break into a building in the area.

In Umm al-Kheir, settlers were recorded encroaching on the small playground that residents had established in memory of Awdah Hathaleen. An Israeli settler fatally shot Hathaleen in the village in July 2025.

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