Army, police probing alleged settler arson and vandalism in West Bank Christian village

Police and the IDF were investigating an alleged arson attack and vandalism by settlers on Wednesday in the West Bank Christian Palestinian village of Taybeh, the Kan public broadcaster reported.

Photos published by Palestinian media showed a charred car, as well as Hebrew graffiti on a wall reading “Revenge” and “Am Yisrael Chai” (The nation of Israel lives).

Kan published additional security camera footage, timestamped to about 5 a.m., showing three masked individuals at the site of the attack.

There were no reports of arrests.

Father Jack, a church priest from the village, told Kan in a Thursday interview that the community lives in fear of bloodshed.

“We are worried that the rioters will break into the village at night and cause calamity,” he said. “There is concern and fear in the village; we aren’t prepared to lose even one soul, not prepared for a drop of blood to be spilled.”

המשטרה פתחה בחקירת האירוע ותחקור אותו בליווי הצבא. שלושה רעולי פנים תועדו מגיעים למקום במהלך הלילה ובורחים | תיעוד בלעדי @HGoldich pic.twitter.com/c7Utvk0n5w

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 4, 2026

Jack urged the army and police to increase enforcement in the area.

“We want peace and to live in peace with our neighbors. Jews, Arabs, Christians, Muslims, it makes no difference to us. We want to live, to work, and to be with people.”

The village — home to about 1,300 mostly Christian Palestinians, many holding US dual citizenship — is known for its brewery, the oldest in the Palestinian territories.

Settler attacks have been taking place across the West Bank on a near-daily basis, with almost complete impunity. Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror onslaught in southern Israel, there has been a major surge in attacks by settler extremists on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank. The IDF recorded over 750 incidents of Jewish nationalistic crime and settler violence in 2025, while the total for 2024 was 675 incidents.

While the Trump administration hasn’t weighed in on most other settler attacks on Palestinians, the targeting of Christians has sparked US ire, and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee paid a solidarity visit to Taybeh in July last year after the town endured several incidents of extremist violence.

Also on Wednesday, settlers entered the nearby village of Burqa and assaulted a man, according to WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency.

Footage published by Palestinian media showed six settlers, one of them armed with an IDF standard-issue assault rifle, walking with livestock on a road in the village.

متابعة صحفية| مستـ ـوطنون يهـ.ـاجمون قرية برقا شرق رام الله، ويحــتجزون أحد المزارعين وأغنامه. pic.twitter.com/4rvkFpOBXD

— قناة القدس (@livequds) February 4, 2026

Meanwhile, a woman and her daughter were hospitalized after being assaulted by settlers on Wednesday afternoon near Nablus in the northern West Bank, WAFA said.

Separately, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported a 28-year-old man was taken to a hospital after being shot in the leg by the IDF while he was driving a motorcycle in Jenin, also in the northern West Bank.

The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.