Extremist settlers were reported to have injured several Palestinians and torched their properties in a spate of attacks on West Bank villages overnight Thursday.
The attacks came amid a burgeoning wave of settler violence in the West Bank, with two Palestinians reported killed this month amid clashes in the territory.
At around midnight, a man and his wife were wounded in the southern village of Susya, after a gang of settlers were said to have attacked their home. Footage from the scene showed a middle-aged man with a bloodied head and torso. The two were evacuated to a hospital.
Located in the South Hebron Hills, Susya is one of several villages in the area that have been frequently targeted by settlers from nearby outposts in recent years.
Shortly after that incident, settlers were said to hurl Molotov cocktails at homes, vehicles and property in the Palestinian village of Atara in the central West Bank.
No one was known to be injured in the incident, though a large fire and plumes of smoke could be seen in a video recorded after the alleged assault.
مستوطنون يهاجمون المنازل ويحرقون مركبة في قرية عطارة شمال رام الله pic.twitter.com/nnC8lGEmz4
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 14, 2025
Then, early Friday morning, three young Palestinian men were injured by gunfire after settlers reportedly raided the village of Al-Mazra’a Al-Sharqiya, east of Ramallah, according to Palestinian state-run outlet Wafa.
The village and its surrounding area have also seen a major uptick in settler violence, particularly over recent months. In July this year, two residents, one of them an American citizen, were killed in nearby Sinjil during a reported settler raid.
A memorial poster showing Palestinian-American Sayfollah Musallet, who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers, is displayed outside of a bakery in the West Bank town of Al Mazra as-Sharqiya, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP/Maya Alleruzzo)
There were no reports of arrests related to any of the three incidents that took place overnight. The Israel Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Security forces have rarely arrested Israelis in incidents of settler violence that have been taking place on a near-daily basis throughout the West Bank. Palestinians and left-wing activists have claimed that the army and police purposefully refrain from cracking down on the phenomenon, thus spurring it on further.
In the rare case that Israelis are arrested, the suspects are typically set free soon afterward.
Such was the case with Yinon Levi, who was arrested in late July on suspicion of negligent homicide after allegedly shooting dead Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian farmer from Umm al-Kheir, in the southern West Bank during clashes.
Levi, who lives on an illegal farming outpost in the area, was released to house arrest on August 1 and later freed entirely, after a court ruled that evidence against him had weakened. Shortly after he was freed, new footage was released showing the settler — who is sanctioned by the UK, EU, and previously the US — firing in Hathaleen’s direction before he collapsed.
Yinon Levi works on his farm in the South Hebron Hills, West Bank, May 12, 2024. (Maya Alleruzzo/AP)
Since the killing of Hathaleen, two more Palestinians have been killed amid similar clashes involving settlers and locals.
Armed settlers reportedly killed 24-year-old Mouin Asfar on August 2, shooting him dead in the central West Bank town of Aqraba, southeast of Nablus.
According to Haaretz, 10-15 masked, armed assailants approached an olive grove belonging to Asfar’s family. The encounter soon became violent, with Palestinians throwing stones to protect their property, and settlers responding with gunfire.
The bullets reportedly hit eight people, including Asfar, who succumbed to his wounds. Three others were critically injured, but have since recovered.
On Wednesday this week, an off-duty soldier reportedly fatally shot a 35-year-old Palestinian man, Thameen Dawabsheh, during clashes in Duma. They broke out after settlers arrived in the area, apparently to prepare land for the construction of a new illegal outpost.
The IDF told Haaretz that “dozens of Palestinian assailants threw stones at an off-duty IDF soldier and an Israeli civilian” during what it dubbed “civilian engineering work.”
“The soldier responded with warning shots in the air. The assailants continued throwing stones, and the soldier then fired to remove the threat. A hit was confirmed.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
