occupied

Israeli settlers set fire to homes and vehicles near Jenin amid reports of widespread violence across the occupied territory.

Israeli settlers have torched homes and vehicles in at least two areas of the occupied West Bank, wounding at least one person, amid reports of settler violence across the Palestinian territory.

The Palestinian Wafa news agency, citing local sources, said Israeli settlers stormed the village of al-Fandaqumiya and the town of Seilat al-Dahr, south of Jenin, late on Saturday.

In al-Fandaqumiya, Israeli settlers set “homes and vehicles ablaze and damaged additional houses by smashing windows” as Palestinians “attempted to confront them and put out the fires”, the agency reported.

In Seilat al-Dahr, the settlers targeted several homes, attempted to set them alight and physically assaulted a resident, leaving him wounded.

Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed large fires burning inside homes in Seilat al-Dahr, and another house engulfed in flames in al-Fandaqumiya as residents frantically tried to extinguish them.

There was also an attack on Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, where settlers wounded two Palestinians. Three others were arrested as settlers stormed the area under the protection of Israeli forces, Wafa reported.

The attacks, which took place late on Saturday during Eid al-Fitr celebrations, are the latest in a wave of settler violence in the occupied territory that has previously resulted in killings.

Other images and videos shared by Palestinian authorities showed settler attacks on the villages of Qaryut and Jalud, south of Nablus. In Jalud, a four-wheel-drive vehicle was seen completely burned out following the attack.

Violence was reported elsewhere across the occupied West Bank.

Near the town of Haris, west of Salfit, settlers gathered on the main road and pelted Palestinian vehicles with stones, according to Wafa.

In Ramallah, settlers near Rawabi Square on the Ramallah-Nablus Road threw stones at passing Palestinian-registered vehicles, with no injuries reported.

Similar incidents were reported in Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem.

Settler violence in the West Bank has intensified in the shadow of Israel’s genocidal war on nearby Gaza.

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the West Bank since the Gaza war began in October 2023, according to the latest United Nations figures.

In late February, Israeli settlers defaced and set fire to a mosque near Nablus in the occupied West Bank during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In February, the UN Human Rights Council warned in a new report (PDF) that Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank – including “the systematic unlawful use of force by Israeli security forces” and unlawful demolitions of Palestinian homes – aim to uproot Palestinian communities.

Human rights groups say Israeli authorities have allowed the settlers to operate with total impunity in their attacks against Palestinians.

Israeli organisation B’Tselem has also accused its government of actively aiding the settlers’ violence “as part of a strategy to cement the takeover of Palestinian land”.

Elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, two Palestinians were injured on Saturday night by live fire from Israeli forces south of Tulkarem.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that at least two people were wounded after being shot by Israeli forces at the Jabara checkpoint.

Three women in an occupied West Bank hair salon became the first Palestinian deaths of the US-Israeli war on Iran when they were hit by falling material.

Two Palestinian brothers are the only survivors after Israeli troops killed their parents and two siblings in Tammun in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian health authorities. The boys say soldiers opened fire on their family car and beat them after the shooting.

Several Palestinians were killed after armed Israeli settlers attacked the village of Abu Falah in the occupied West Bank. Witnesses say the settlers carried out the attack under the protection of Israeli forces.

Air raid sirens blared across occupied East Jerusalem on Saturday after missiles were reportedly fired by Iran, with explosions heard and interception trails visible in the sky.

US embassy services will be available in the illegal West Bank settlement of Efrat, starting on February 27.

The United States has announced it will soon provide in-person passport services at an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.

The US Embassy in Jerusalem said it would start providing the service for Efrat, located between the Palestinian towns of Bethlehem and Hebron, on February 27.

It will be the first time the US has “provided consular services to a settlement in the West Bank”, according to a US embassy spokesperson quoted by the Reuters news agency.

The embassy said it would plan similar on-site services in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, the illegal Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit near Bethlehem, and in cities within Israel, such ⁠as Haifa.

The US currently offers passport and consular services at its embassy in West Jerusalem as well ⁠as at a Tel Aviv branch office.

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, home to 3 million Palestinians who seek the territory as part of a future state, are illegal under international law.

Nevertheless, far-right Israeli politicians have openly called for Israel to increase settlement expansion, or even annex the Palestinian territory.

This month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government approved measures to expand control over the occupied West Bank and claim large tracts of Palestinian territory as Israeli “state property”.

The move was roundly condemned by more than 80 United Nations member countries.

Much of the West Bank is already under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-government in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.

According to the International Court of Justice, about 465,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied Palestinian territory, spread across some 300 illegal settlements and outposts.

Among them are an estimated tens of thousands of dual US-Israeli nationals. The Efrat settlement is home to many American immigrants.

US President Donald Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, has said he opposes Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank. But his administration has ‌not taken any steps to curb Israel’s expanding settlement presence.

In addition to advancing settlements, Israeli forces regularly carry out violent raids, demolitions, and arrests in the occupied West Bank, where attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have also intensified, often under the protection of Israeli soldiers.

In January alone, at least 694 Palestinians were driven from their homes in the West Bank because of Israeli settler violence and harassment, the highest number since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza erupted in October 2023, according to the United Nations.

Joint statement says Israeli land grab is ‘deliberate and direct attack’ on the viability of a Palestinian state.

Foreign ministers of 19 countries, including Turkiye, Qatar, France and Brazil, have signed a joint statement condemning Israel’s moves to unlawfully extend and consolidate its control over Palestinian land.

The statement issued late Monday by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs described Israel’s plans to begin land registration in the occupied West Bank, which will sanction the seizure of land from Palestinians who cannot prove ownership, as “de facto annexation”.

“Changes are wide-ranging, reclassifying Palestinian land as so-called Israeli ‘state land’, accelerating illegal ⁠settlement activity, and further entrenching Israeli administration,” said the joint statement, also signed by Saudi ‌Arabia and Egypt, as well as the heads of the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Israel’s plans, signed on February 15, will see registration introduced across Area C, which makes up about 60 percent of the West Bank’s territory, according to the illegal settlement monitoring organisation, Peace Now.

The joint statement warned Israel’s moves could permanently alter the “legal and administrative status” of territory that is largely under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule, but which would constitute part of a future Palestinian state.

“Such actions are a deliberate and direct attack on the viability of the Palestinian State and the implementation of the two-State Solution,” the statement said, rejecting measures altering “the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem”.

Signatories also called on Israel to end settler violence against Palestinians, pledging to take “concrete steps, in accordance with international law, to counter the expansion of illegal settlements in Palestinian territory and policies and threats of forcible displacement and annexation”.

The foreign ministers stressed that Israeli settlements constitute “a flagrant violation of international law”, including previous United Nations Security Council resolutions and the 2024 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The landmark ICJ ruling stated that Israel’s “abuse of its status as the occupying power” rendered its “presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful”.

According to the ICJ, approximately 465,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank, spread across some 300 settlements and outposts, which are illegal under international law.

Earlier this month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that Israel’s land registration plan could lead to the “dispossession of Palestinians of their property and risks expanding Israeli control over land in the area”.

Signatories of the statement urged Israel to immediately release withheld tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority in accordance with the 1994 Paris Protocol.

They also stressed the importance of preserving the historic and legal status quo in Jerusalem and its holy sites, particularly during the holy month of Ramadan.