Israeli forces arrested 6 Palestinians on Friday during raids in various parts of the West Bank, while the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission announced that it had documented 2,051 attacks against Palestinians, their land and property during September, including settler attacks that resulted in the deaths of 3 Palestinians.
Raids and arrests in West Bank governorates
The Hamas-affiliated Prisoners’ Media Office said in a statement that Israeli forces raided Burqa, north-west of Nablus, searched a number of homes and tampered with their contents before arresting 3 Palestinians from the town. The office added that the forces arrested a young man during a raid on Zababdeh, south of Jenin governorate.
They also arrested a young man from Jayyous in Qalqilya governorate and another from Hebron governorate, bringing the number of detainees cited in the statement to 6 Palestinians. Areas of Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate also witnessed Israeli raids, with no arrests reported, according to the Prisoners’ Media Office. Separately, Palestinian platforms published footage they said documented Israeli forces arresting several Palestinians during a raid on Bartaa village, south-west of Jenin.
The published footage, including images recorded by surveillance cameras, showed Israeli forces leading workers in a line through one of the village’s streets while they were blindfolded. In Anabta, east of Tulkarm, Palestinian platforms published videos they said showed the Israeli raid on the town continuing.
The footage showed several Israeli military vehicles positioned near residential buildings. Other footage also documented an attempt by armed settlers, accompanied by Israeli soldiers, to prevent residents of Beita, south of Nablus, from reaching their land and harvesting olives. Separate footage showed several soldiers preventing residents from entering agricultural land and continuing to harvest the crop.
Tally of attacks during September
It added that what it described as “settler terrorism” resulted in the deaths of 3 Palestinians during the month, while 88 people, including 7 children and 6 women, suffered direct harm. According to the commission, attacks on crops affected 14,600 trees during September, including 9,334 olive trees. The damage coincided with the olive harvest season and incidents in which Palestinian farmers were prevented from reaching their land.
Attempts to establish new settlement outposts
During the same month, the commission recorded 21 attempts by settlers to establish new settlement outposts. The attempts were concentrated in Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate, with 10, followed by Nablus with 5, then Jerusalem and Bethlehem with 2 each, in addition to 1 attempt in Hebron and another in Jenin.
Palestinian institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs say the Israeli army conducts near-daily campaigns to arrest Palestinians, including children and women, often involving raids on homes, searches and damage to their contents. According to Palestinian institutions specialising in prisoners’ affairs, about 9,350 Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli prisons, including 350 children and 90 female prisoners.
Since October 2023, the escalation of attacks by the Israeli army and settlers in the West Bank has resulted in the deaths of 1,206 Palestinians and injuries to about 13,350 people. Fourteen UN special rapporteurs warned last June that the sharp rise in what they described as “settler terrorism”, with the support and complicity of the Israeli state, posed an existential threat in the Palestinian territory.
