By Aysar Alais
RAMALLAH/Palestine (AA) – Seven Palestinian families on Friday dismantled their homes in the Al-Maita area of the northern Jordan Valley in the West Bank amid escalating attacks by illegal settlers and Israeli forces, according to a local official.
Moataz Bisharat, who monitors settlement activity in Tubas, told Anadolu that the families removed their tin and tent structures after illegal settlers set fire to uninhabited tents overnight and carried out repeated assaults, including beatings, livestock theft, destruction of crops and restrictions on grazing.
With the departure of the seven families, the area will be left without any Palestinian residents, he said.
Earlier Friday, four Palestinians were injured and 24 others detained in Israeli military raids and attacks by illegal settlers across the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces shot a young man in the thigh in the town of Al-Ram, north of Jerusalem.
In the northern city of Nablus, three Palestinians were injured during an attack by illegal settlers on the village of Talfit. One sustained gunshot wounds and was hospitalized, while two others were beaten and treated at the scene, according to the Red Crescent.
Separately, Israeli forces carried out a series of raids across the West Bank, detaining 24 Palestinians.
According to Palestinian official data, more than 9,300 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including 66 women and 350 children.
Israel has intensified operations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since launching its military campaign in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023. Palestinians view the escalation, including killings, arrests, displacement and settlement expansion, as a step toward formal annexation of the territory.
At least 1,112 Palestinians have been killed and about 11,500 injured in the West Bank during that period, and more than 21,000 people have been arrested.
In a landmark opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
*Writing by Tarek Chouiref