Palestinians report over 2,100 Israeli assaults in occupied West Bank in January

By Qais Abu Samra and Ahmed Asmar

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – The Israeli army and illegal settlers carried out 2,161 assaults in the occupied West Bank in January, a Palestinian commission said on Monday.

“The assaults included 1,786 carried out by the army and 375 by illegal settlers,” Moayad Shaaban, who heads the official Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said in a statement.

He said the assaults ranged between armed attacks on Palestinian villages, land expropriation, field executions to destruction of properties.

Israeli settlers "attempted to establish 10 new outposts in the West Bank cities of Tubas, Nablus, Qalqilya, Ramallah, and Bethlehem,” he added.

According to the official, the Israeli army seized 262 dunams (65 acres) of Palestinian land in the northern West Bank in January.

He said the Israeli army demolished 126 Palestinian structures last month, including 74 inhabited homes and 29 agricultural facilities in the West Bank.

"The Israeli occupation is inventing new ways to oppress Palestinians and make their lives unbearable," Shaaban said.

The escalation in the West Bank came after a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal took hold in Gaza on Jan. 19, following 15 months of Israel’s genocidal war that killed over 47,500 Palestinians and reduced the enclave to rubble.

Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, more than 900 Palestinians have been killed across the occupied territory in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers.