Two Palestinians were injured early on Sunday, 20 September 2026, in a settler attack in the Wadi al-Shaer area in the northern West Bank, as Israeli forces raided several towns and arrested Palestinians. Meanwhile, the Israeli security establishment entered a state of operational alert ahead of Yom Kippur.
The Palestine Red Crescent said its teams treated two people injured during a settler attack in Wadi al-Shaer, located between the village of Lubban al-Sharqiya and the city of Salfit. It said one Palestinian was stabbed in the thigh, while the other suffered a head injury. In the northern West Bank, Israeli forces arrested Ayman Qassem after raiding his home in the town of Aqaba, north of Tubas, early on Sunday, according to local sources cited by the Palestinian news agency.
Arrests and raids in West Bank governorates
The sources said Qassem is the father of two prisoners. On Saturday evening, Israeli forces arrested eight Palestinians, including a father and his son, from the village of Ad-Duqayqah, in the rural area of Yatta, south of Hebron governorate. The agency said the arrests followed “terrorist settlers attacking residents and attempting to steal livestock from the village”.
In the same village, settlers cut the main water line supplying Ad-Duqayqah on Saturday morning, depriving 700 residents of water, according to the Palestinian agency. In Tulkarm governorate in the north-western West Bank, Israeli forces raided the town of Allar and patrolled its streets. They also stopped several residents and arrested a young man from the town, according to local sources.
The Jerusalem Governorate said Israeli forces raided the town of Hizma, north-east of Jerusalem, and deployed in the schools area. In the central West Bank, raids targeted the towns of Deir Dibwan, Silwad and Deir Abu Mash'al in Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate, with no injuries or arrests reported in those towns.
Israeli alert raised ahead of Yom Kippur
Coinciding with these developments, the Israeli security establishment entered a state of operational alert as Yom Kippur approached. It is considered the holiest Jewish holiday, during which the Israeli authorities impose tight restrictions on Palestinians. Maariv reported that the security agencies were examining a range of possible scenarios.
The newspaper said that, as of Saturday evening, there was no intelligence indicating that any party on the seven combat fronts intended to challenge Israeli forces. It said these fronts included the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Iran and the West Bank. During the weekend, the Israeli army issued a circular announcing increased alert levels and readiness on all fronts ahead of Yom Kippur.
The circular said the air force would increase the number of armed aircraft used during the holiday. Since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, attacks by Israeli forces and settlers against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have intensified.
Those attacks have included killings, arrests, the demolition of homes and facilities, the burning of mosques and cars, and the levelling of agricultural land, as well as preventing farmers from reaching their land, displacing Palestinians and expanding settlements on their land.
