Settlers attack several Palestinian villages, 2 reported injured; no arrests made

Extremist Israeli settlers carried out several attacks on Palestinian communities across the West Bank on Saturday, wounding at least two, as videos posted to social media showed dozens of settlers hurling stones in at least two villages.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, a Palestinian teenager and a foreign volunteer were wounded in a settler attack involving beatings and pepper spray in the southern Hebron Hills in the southern West Bank.

There were no reports of arrests in any of the attacks. Assailants are rarely arrested despite attacks taking place on a daily basis.

In the northern West Bank village of Qusra, Palestinians came under attack from around a dozen settlers who reportedly hurled stones at residents and homes.

Footage showed the attackers fleeing the village after locals began confronting them.

Further south, the central West Bank village of Mukhmas also came under attack from around a dozen settlers who were filmed descending from an illegal outpost to throw stones into the village.

لحظة هروب المستوطنين من بلدة "قصرة" جنوب شرق نابلس، بعد اندلاع مواجهات وتصدّي الفلسطينيين لهم. pic.twitter.com/T7obKADLjl

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) March 28, 2026

The settlers were apparently from an illegal outpost called Kol Mevaser, which was briefly taken down by Israeli authorities after its residents were involved in a series of violent attacks against Mukhmas.

A Palestinian-American teen was killed in one of those attacks last month.

Kol Mevaser has since been rebuilt by settlers, with no action by Israeli authorities, who are stretched thin in the West Bank amid the mushrooming of outposts throughout the entire territory.

???? Right Now:
About a dozen settlers descended again from Kol Mevaser outpost to the Palestinian village of Mukhmas and threw rocks upon the Palestinians.

On Wednesday on a similar incident several Palestinians were injured and four were hospitalised. pic.twitter.com/9UlfXiY3wq

— Herd of Justice (@JustHerds) March 28, 2026

Youssef Hammas Abu Ali, a resident of Mukhmas, said that it took over an hour for an IDF force to arrive at the scene of the attack, by which time the attackers had already left.

Abu Ali, a chicken farmer, said that around nine extremist settlers descended from Kol Mevaser close to Mukhmas at around 3 p.m. They threw stones and shot rocks with a slingshot at villagers gathered at the outskirts of Mukhmas, who had gathered to defend agricultural infrastructure there. Two weeks ago, extremists from the same outpost set fire to a fence next to a chicken coop in the same area.

The settlers cut barbed wire installed by villagers to defend Mukhmas, Abu Ali said, but eventually left due to the presence of the villagers.

Villagers called the army to report the attack, but the IDF force only turned up after 4 p.m., by which time the settlers had left.

Rabbi Arik Ascherman, a veteran Israeli human rights activist, said that until the police or army arrest the assailants and destroy the access road to Kol Mevaser, the attacks will continue.

Last Wednesday, some 11 Palestinians from Mukhmas, including Abu Ali, were injured when extremists from Kol Mevaser attacked the village, with at least four of the villagers needing hospital treatment for their wounds. When the army finally arrived after an hour, the settlers fled, but the army fired tear gas at the Palestinians who had gathered at the site to confront the attackers.

The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on any of Saturday’s settler attacks.

Rising settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank are being reported daily, but are rarely prosecuted. In recent months, repeated attacks — often from wildcat settler outposts — have led dozens of Palestinian families to flee their homes and sometimes abandon entire communities, fearing further attacks.

In a report this week, human rights group Yesh Din said settlers have carried out more than 10 attacks on Palestinians a day since the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran on February 28.