IDF arrests over 20 Palestinians after settlers raid southern West Bank village
At least 6 Palestinians said wounded; no Israelis detained for attack on Jinba, which police say came after 2 Jews in the area were assaulted
Twenty-two residents of the southern West Bank Palestinian village of Jinba were arrested by the IDF on Friday morning, a resident of the hamlet told The Times of Israel, with the military saying it detained people involved in a violent confrontation with Israeli settlers — none of whom were arrested.
Footage from the scene shortly before the Israel Defense Forces arrived showed dozens of settlers raiding the village, attacking residents and property. At least six Palestinians were injured in the assault, four of whom were taken to a hospital, the Haaretz daily reported, citing residents. The IDF said an Israeli was also injured during the violence.
Residents of Jinba, in the southern West Bank’s Masafer Yatta area, accused the IDF of using excessive force, saying soldiers hurled stun grenades inside homes. Haaretz cited Masafer Yatta council head Nidal Younis as saying that settlers also threw stun grenades. Younis was among the Palestinians detained at Jinba, according to the newspaper.
The settler attack on Jinba followed reports of violence against Jews, according to police and the military.
Police said officers were dispatched to the area after two Jewish shepherds were assaulted south of Susiya, one of the Masafer Yatta villages.
The IDF said it had received a report that an Israeli citizen was attacked near the southern West Bank’s Mitzpeh Yair outpost. Troops dispatched to the scene along with police officers “began a chase after the terrorists,” the IDF said, without clarifying how forces knew whom to pursue.
Watch this: Dozens of masked Israeli settler-terrorists stormed the Palestinian village of Jinba in Masafer Yatta, attacking homes and injuring five residents— including a 15-year-old child now in critical condition. pic.twitter.com/URcCMnrYgk
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) March 28, 2025
“Shortly thereafter, a violent confrontation developed between several Israeli citizens and several Palestinians, during which an Israeli civilian was injured and evacuated for medical treatment,” the IDF said. “A report was received regarding several Palestinians who were injured and received treatment from medical personnel.”
“IDF troops worked to disperse the violent confrontation and arrested several Palestinian suspects near the location. The suspects were transferred for further interrogation,” the army added.
The West Bank has seen a spike in violence since October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
In the West Bank, the military has undertaken large-scale counterterrorism operations that have killed hundreds of people — the vast majority of them combatants, according to the IDF — and displaced tens of thousands.
After it was attacked by Israeli settler-terrorists this morning, injuring five residents—two hospitalized—the Israeli army arrived at Jinba in Masafer Yatta. Not to arrest the settlers but to detain all 22 men in the village, including the mayor of Masafer Yatta. pic.twitter.com/CyCM5VwujB
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) March 28, 2025
Masafer Yatta, in the West Bank’s South Hebron Hills, has faced frequent raids by settlers and soldiers. It is the subject of Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” about Israel’s demolitions in the area, which the military has designated a live-fire training zone.
Israeli forces on Monday night arrested the film’s co-director, Hamdan Ballal, a resident of Masafer Yatta, after he was reportedly injured during clashes between settlers and Palestinians in the southern West Bank village of Susya. He was released the next day. Two other Palestinians and an Israeli were also detained.
Arrests of Israelis in incidents of settler violence are extremely rare. The head of the police’s West Bank division is currently under investigation for allegedly refusing to crack down on the phenomenon to curry favor in the eyes of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Israel’s failure to prosecute near-daily incidents of settler violence led the previous White House and multiple European governments to begin sanctioning violent settlers last year. US President Donald Trump scrapped his predecessor’s sanctions shortly after taking office in January.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.