Israeli settlers attack two Palestinian villages, burn vehicles

JERUSALEM Dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked a pair of Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, setting fire to vehicles and other property before clashing with Israeli soldiers sent to halt the rampage, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

It was the latest in a series of attacks by young settlers in the West Bank.

Israeli police said four Israelis were arrested in what it described as “extremist violence,” while the Israeli military said four Palestinians were wounded.

Police and Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency said they were investigating.

Videos on social media showed two charred trucks engulfed in flames, with a nearby building on fire. Settler violence has surged since the war in Gaza erupted two years ago. The attacks have intensified in recent weeks as Palestinians harvest their olive trees in an annual ritual.

The army said soldiers initially responded to settler attacks in the villages of Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf. It said the settlers fled to a nearby industrial zone and attacked soldiers sent to the scene and damaged a military vehicle.

Palestinian official Muayyad Shaaban, who heads the government’s Commission against the Wall and Settlements, said the settlers set fire to four dairy trucks, farmland, tin shacks and tents belonging to a Bedouin community.

He said the attacks were part of a campaign to drive Palestinians from their land and accused Israel of giving the settlers protection and immunity. He called for sanctions against groups that “sponsor and support the colonial settlement terrorism project.”

French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the attacks during his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris on Tuesday, saying that “settler violence and the acceleration of settlement projects are reaching new heights, threatening the stability of the West Bank.”

Hussein Hammadi, mayor of Beit Lid, told AFP that around 200 Israeli settlers came down from the hills towards his village, before splitting into two groups.

“One attacked the Bedouin community located on a slope along the road, while the other climbed the nearby hill where the Juneidi Dairy factory is located,” Hammadi said, referring to one of the main Palestinian dairy brands.

“The group that attacked the Bedouin community burned Bedouin vehicles, animal pens, and homes, and tried to steal sheep before moving to another Bedouin encampment,” while those at the dairy factory burned five company trucks and ransacked the facility, Hammadi said.

Hammadi added that 10 Palestinians were injured during the attack.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the Palestinian territory.

A minorty of these Israelis engage in violence against Palestinians, who complain that Israeli forces usually do not arrest settlers.

All settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law. Hammadi said he did not believe the police arrested settlers on Tuesday.

“They would never have dared to do all this if they weren’t protected by the army,” he said.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that October 2025 was the worst month for settler violence since it began recording in 2006, with 264 attacks that caused casualties or property damage.

Almost none of the perpetrators have been held to account by the Israeli authorities.

Violence has surged across the West Bank since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023.

At least 1,002 Palestinians, including militants, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since the war started, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

During the same period, 43 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks in the West Bank, according to official Israeli figures.