Overnight pogroms by Jewish settlers target Palestinian villages across the occupied West Bank
Israel has escalated its attacks on Palestinians under the cover of the war on Iran
Israeli settlers rampaged through multiple Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank overnight on 21 March, smashing cars, burning homes, and attacking and injuring Palestinians defending their homes.
The settlers carried out attacks in at least six Palestinian communities on Saturday and Sunday.
WAFA reported attacks in the villages of Silat al Dahr and Fandaqumiya near Jenin, the villages of Jalud and Salfit near Nablus, and farming communities in Masafer Yatta and the Jordan Valley.
In Fandaqumiya, Israeli settlers set "homes and vehicles ablaze and damaged additional houses by smashing windows" as Palestinians "attempted to confront them and put out the fires," WAFA stated.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PCRS) said at least three Palestinians in the village of Jalud suffered head wounds from beatings and were hospitalized after confronting settlers.
Settlers also pelted Palestinian cars with stones at checkpoints at multiple checkpoints across the West Bank.
Al Jazeera verified footage showing desperate residents in Silat al-Dahr and Fandaqumiya seeking to put out fires burning down their homes after settlers set them alight.
According to Israeli media, the pogroms began after a car accident in which a Palestinian vehicle struck an ATV carrying two settlers in the West Bank, killing one of them. Settler groups then issued calls for revenge across social media.
Settler violence against Palestinians has intensified under the cover of Israel and the unprovoked US-Israeli war on Iran, which has dominated international headlines over the past three weeks.
Israel's military said on Sunday it responded to Israeli civilians carrying out “arson against structures and property, as well as engaging in disturbances in the area.” However, the military did not report any arrests or say investigations have been opened, suggesting its complicity in the attacks.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCH) reported that 25 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers since the beginning of the year.
Israeli settlers are religious Jews who believe God has commanded them to use violence to steal land and "cleanse" the West Bank of its indigenous Muslim and Christian Palestinian inhabitants.
Since seizing the West Bank in 1967, Israel has built 160 settlements on occupied Palestinian land. The settlements were built as part of a gradual process of colonization and left theft. Israelis sometimes refer to this process as establishing "facts on the ground" that they hope Palestinians and the international community will never be able to reverse.
Israel has transferred some 700,000 Israeli Jews to the West Bank settlements, in violation of international law, in an effort to displace the estimated 3.3 million Palestinians in the occupied territories.
Settlement expansion has risen sharply since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022 at the head of a religious, pro-settler coalition, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Netanyahu's coalition also wishes to establish Jewish settlements in Gaza, after first destroying and ethnically cleansing it of its 2 million Palestinian inhabitants.
On Sunday, Israeli shelling killed one Palestinian civilian and injured several others in an attack near the old courthouse in the Sheikh Radwan Bridge area of Gaza City, WAFA reported.