A new wave of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank

Ramallah (agencies)

The West Bank witnessed a new wave of violence against Palestinians, after the body of an Israeli shepherd was found yesterday. Attacks on Palestinian villages north of Ramallah have escalated since the boy went missing the day before yesterday, and their scope expanded on Saturday to Hebron and Nablus after the announcement yesterday afternoon of his death.
The army besieged ten villages and were attacked by hundreds of settlers, which led to the injury of several people, one of whom was shot in the head, according to the Palestinian authorities and media.
The mayor of Al-Mughayir, Amir Abu Aliya, said: “Dozens of settlers are attacking the village and burning everything they can get their hands on.”
Plumes of smoke rose from burning homes, fields, buildings and agricultural machinery over the hills and valleys, according to AFP reporters.
The 14-year-old boy went missing near Al-Mughayir the day before yesterday morning, while he was tending to his sheep, which returned without him to the farm in “Malachi HaShalom.”
The army immediately launched a large-scale operation, and hundreds of civilians, including many settlers, went searching for him. The boy's body was found nearby yesterday afternoon.
The army, police, and the Israeli Internal Security Service, Shin Bet, indicated in a statement that “the boy was killed in a terrorist attack.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned his killing, and said that the security forces were engaged in an “intensive operation to hunt down the killers and everyone who cooperated with them.” The Prime Minister issued a call for calm, calling on “all Israelis to enable the security forces to carry out their work without obstacles.” Defense Minister Yoav Galant warned against any “acts of retaliation.”
For his part, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid denounced “settler violence” as a “dangerous violation of the law.”
In Ramallah, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa warned that the attacks launched by settlers on Palestinian villages and towns “will not deter the Palestinian people from standing firm on their land, and thwarting the plans of displacement and expulsion in favor of the settlers.”
The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health and the Palestinian Red Crescent reported at least one death and dozens of injuries, including many from bullets, since Friday.
For its part, the Israeli army indicated that “dozens of Israelis and Palestinians were injured.”
Traces of violence were still visible in Al-Mughayir yesterday. Smoke was still rising from cars, small freight vehicles, and agricultural machinery, and traces of fire covered the walls, according to an Agence France-Presse photographer.
Astonished residents inspected what remained of their homes, which had turned into mere structures and window gaps overlooking the plain. On the sides of the roads, dozens of vehicles were set on fire and army checkpoints were used to search cars.
According to the mayor of Duma, near Nablus, the West Bank “has been living in a real state of war since yesterday.” In his village, 15 houses and 10 livestock farms were set on fire.
The developments come amid escalating confrontations in the West Bank since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip on October 7.
In the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, at least 462 Palestinians were killed there by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to the Palestinian Authority.
Yesterday, the United Nations Special Rapporteur in the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, called on the international organization to provide protection for the Palestinians in the Palestinian territories.