NGO: Israeli settlers attack activists in the occupied West Bank

A group of Israeli activists were attacked by extremist settlers in the occupied West Bank on Monday, an Israeli human rights group said, while authorities demolished Palestinian homes and a school in the latest intimidation attack by settlers in Palestinian territory backed by the Israeli army.

The Israeli non-governmental organization Breaking the Silence said two activists were violently attacked and two others had their phones snatched and thrown away.

The group was attacked in the small Palestinian village of At-Tuwani in the southern Hebron Hills, in the presence of the Israeli army, which did not intervene, according to an Israeli newspaper report. The Times of Israel.

This is not the first time that the village has been attacked by violent settlers in the presence of the Israeli military.

In 2021, armed settlers attacked agricultural buildings in the village, as documented by Breaking the Silence. In another alarming incident in October 2023, a settler shot and killed an unarmed Palestinian villager at point-blank range in the presence of the Israeli military.

Yehuda Shaul, co-founder of Breaking the Silence, posted videos on X on Monday showing a school and houses in the West Bank being destroyed by a bulldozer on the orders of the Israeli military.

“The Israeli authorities have just demolished a school in the village of Umm Lasafa in the South Hebron Hills (SHH). This wave of demolitions was preceded by two more in the SHH today.”

Shaul said 20 Palestinians have been left homeless because the authorities have destroyed houses and animal enclosures. The destruction of the school has left 60 children in the area without school.

“This is all just the daily work of the Israeli authorities,” said Shaul, himself an Israeli.

“The lack of significant international pressure on the illegal policies in the West Bank only enables a devastating acceleration of annexation by the illegal population,” he said, referring to the policies of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government that oversaw settlement expansion and allowed settlers to move largely unhindered.

Israeli authorities recently approved a plan to “legalize” five settlements under Israeli law. Last week, the government gave the green light to a construction plan to build 5,300 new homes for Jews in the occupied West Bank, despite concerns from Western countries, including the United States.

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, himself a settler, promotes the expansion of settlements on Palestinian land and recently announced plans to crack down on left-wing Israeli NGOs that advocate for Palestinian rights.

The acceleration of settlement construction is further fuelling tensions in the West Bank, which has been illegally occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. While the US, UK and European governments have expressed concern about the expansion of settlement capacity, this is not enough to dissuade Israel from its policy.

Canada recently announced sanctions against seven Israeli settlers, following the example of its allies the United States and Great Britain.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented the killing of 539 Palestinians by Israeli troops or settlers between October 7 and July 1.

The new Arab contacted Breaking the Silence and the Israeli military, but had not received a response at the time of publication.