36 people, including journalists, injured in attacks by Israeli army, illegal settlers in occupied West Bank

By Aysar Alais and Rania Abu Shamala

RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL (AA) – At least 36 people, including journalists, were injured in attacks by Israeli army forces and illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank on Friday, the Health Ministry said.

A ministry statement said 36 people were treated, including two from live bullets, following attacks by illegal settlers and Israeli soldiers in the towns of Beita, Huwara, and Deir Sharaf in Nablus.

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, illegal settlers attacked Palestinian farmers while they were harvesting olives in the Jabal Qamas area of Beita, beating them and setting fire to three vehicles, one of which belonged to an AFP photographer.

Israeli soldiers raided the area and fired stun grenades and tear gas canisters toward civilians, causing several cases of suffocation due to tear gas inhalation, added Wafa.

Local sources told Anadolu that three journalists were injured during the Israeli raid.

Similar settler attacks were reported in the villages of Aqraba, Al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, and Ammuriya, south of Nablus.

In the Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate in the central West Bank, Israeli forces arrested six Palestinians while they were collecting olives in the village of Kafr Ni’ma, west of Ramallah, after settlers assaulted them in the area.

Such settler attacks typically intensify during the annual olive harvest season, which provides a main source of income for many Palestinian farmers.

According to official Palestinian figures, more than 1,050 Palestinians have been killed, around 10,300 wounded and over 20,000 arrested, including about 1,600 children, since the onslaught against the Gaza Strip began two years ago.

Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed nearly 67,200 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it uninhabitable.