Settler attacks reported across West Bank as Palestinians begin olive harvest
50-year-old man hospitalized after beating; footage shows vehicle being smashed in Osarin, while attacks and vandalism are reported in several other villages
Palestinians harvesting olives were attacked and property was damaged in several locations across the West Bank on Saturday, according to Palestinian reports.
In the village of Osarin, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said it evacuated a 50-year-old Palestinian man to a hospital after he was beaten by settlers. He was carried back into the village on a ladder he had reportedly been using to harvest olives.
WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, reported that the settlers had hurled stones at homes and vehicles in the village. Footage from the town showed over a dozen people identified as settlers smashing a vehicle parked outside a house.
Osarin is located in Area B, where the Palestinian Authority exercises civilian control while Israel retains security control.
Israel Police said they had opened an investigation into the incident, with officers entering the town alongside Israel Defense Forces troops to gather evidence and take witness statements.
The IDF in its own statement said troops were dispatched to Osarin following “footage and reports of Palestinians and property being attacked by Israeli rioters in the area.” Upon arriving, soldiers found property damage and searched for the suspects, “who had fled before the troops reached the scene,” the military said.
Elsewhere, Palestinian olive pickers in Beita were reportedly attacked for a second consecutive day. Security camera footage appeared to show several people identified as settlers running through an olive grove just outside a Palestinian home.
Separate footage from the area appeared to show IDF soldiers accompanied by an armed settler gathering Palestinians from the grove, with several later seen seated in a row as troops stood nearby.
Palestinian reports said olive trees and crops were also damaged in al-Mughayyir, near Ramallah, while two young Palestinian men were reportedly arrested while harvesting olives in Aqraba, south of Nablus.
صورة | قوات الاحتلال تحتجز عددا من المزارعين في جبل قماص ببلدة بيتا جنوب نابلس pic.twitter.com/HJ4cI7HQoj
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In Burin, WAFA reported that settlers raided another olive grove and stole produce and harvesting equipment. Troops who arrived in the area reportedly fired tear gas, and the Red Crescent said it treated three people for tear gas inhalation.
The incidents came amid heightened tensions across the West Bank as the annual olive harvest gets underway, a period that has frequently seen clashes and attacks around Palestinian farmland. Israel has faced growing international criticism over a surge in settler violence, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has downplayed as the work of a small number of delinquents.
Settler violence in the West Bank has risen sharply since the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza.
Critics accuse the government of condoning and even encouraging the violence, which has led to the displacement of dozens of Palestinian families.
The surge in settler violence has come even as Palestinian attacks against Israelis have declined in recent years, though deadly attacks have continued. Sixty-seven civilians and Israeli security personnel have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank since October 7.
During the same period, more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers, according to the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops, or terrorists carrying out attacks.
Nurit Yohanan contributed to this report.