![Israeli forces take safety measures as fanatic Jewish settlers organize a provocative march in the Old City under the protection of Israeli forces on July 27, 2024 in Hebron, West Bank. [Amer Shallodi - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AA-20240727-35247676-35247673-FANATIC_JEWISH_SETTLERS_ON_HEBRON_STREETS_UNDER_ISRAELI_FORCES_PROTECTION.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Extreme right-wing Israeli settlers have set fire to some Palestinian-owned vehicles and sprayed racist slogans on others in the occupied West Bank town of Dura, south-west of Hebron, Wafa has reported. Israeli occupation forces also stormed the town with a large number of military vehicles and raided the Dura Martyrs Cultural Centre.
The security forces destroyed the centre’s displays and seized pictures and banners of prisoners, including Mahmoud Abu Saleh and Rateb Al-Hreibat. Local residents had prepared these items to welcome Abu Saleh and Al-Hreibat back following their release after 22 years in Israeli captivity.
During the attack, armed settlers also wrote racist slogans and death threats against Arabs on vehicles owned by local Palestinian residents at a garage owned by the Salhab family in Khirbet Qalqas, south of Hebron.
In recent months, illegal Israeli settlers have escalated their rampage against Palestinians and their properties throughout the occupied West Bank, including arson attacks, stone-throwing against Palestinians and their vehicles, uprooting crops and olive trees, attacks on houses and the theft of livestock.
An estimated 700,000 Israeli settlers live in 164 settlements and 116 outposts in the occupied West Bank, adjacent to East Jerusalem. Under international law, all Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories are illegal.
The Israeli military has been conducting regular raids in the West Bank over the past few years, which escalated with the start of the war in Gaza last October. Palestinians have also faced violent attacks from illegal settlers, who are often protected by Israeli soldiers.
At least 591 Palestinians have been killed since October alone, and nearly 5,400 others have been wounded by Israeli army fire in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry.
In a landmark opinion on 19 July, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion that Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land is “illegal” and called for the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
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