Israeli settlers escalate assaults against Palestinians in West Bank

Assaults on Palestinians by Israeli settlers in both territories have increased in recent weeks, Quds Press reported on Sunday.

The coordinator of the anti-Separation Wall Committee in the Al-Khader Neighbourhood of Bethlehem, Ahmed Salah, said that Israeli settlers have committed numerous assaults against Palestinians and their properties in the village. They also attempted, he said, to burn down a Palestinian house.

Israeli forces arrested two Palestinian children in the same neighbourhood after clashes between Palestinians and Israeli settlers in the area, added Salah, who were accused of throwing stones at a car of an Israeli settler.

In Hebron, local Palestinian sources told Quds Press that Israeli forces clashed with Palestinian protestors after attempting to crackdown on protests in the neighbourhoods of Bab Al-Zaowya, Tariq bin Ziyad, Beit Amer, as well as the Arroub and Fawwar refugee camps and villages of Kharsa and Beit Awwa.

Quds Press reported sources as saying that several Palestinians suffered suffocation due to the heavy use of tear gas by the Israeli forces.

Israeli settlers were seen in a video that went viral on social media rolling boulders and burning tires down West Bank hills towards Palestinian farms, damaging and burning them.

At the entrance of Beit Amer, Israeli forces blocked people and called on explosive experts to check a car that had broken down in the area. They found nothing, Quds Press reported.

Meanwhile, Israeli settlers assaulted a number of Israeli peace activist at the entrance of Al-Shuhadaa Street in Hebron, throwing stones and burning tires, which led to the closure of the street for several hours.

Quds Press also reported that an Israeli soldier was wounded in Ayda Refugee Camp in Bethlehem when the Palestinians threw an improvised explosive device at his armoured vehicle.