By Awad Rjoob and Betul Yilmaz
RAMALLAH, Palestine / ISTANBUL (AA) - Four Palestinians were injured by illegal Israeli settlers’ assault on a village in the city of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, medics said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement that its teams transferred four wounded Palestinians to a hospital after they were assaulted by Israeli settlers in the village of Umm al-Khair, Masafer Yatta, southern Hebron.
Witnesses said that the settlers used sticks and batons to attack the Palestinians.
According to the non-governmental Al-Baidar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights, the assaults took place before Israeli army forces, as “they provided protection for the settlers and prevented the (Palestinian) residents from defending themselves.”
Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank, where at least 945 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 others injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Health Ministry.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.