Israeli settlers set fire to homes and cars in violent West Bank raids | News
Israeli Settlers Launch Series of Attacks in West Bank
May 9, 2026
Dozens of Israeli settlers conducted a series of assaults in the occupied West Bank on Friday, resulting in property damage, injuries, and increased tensions in the region.
According to the Palestinian Wafa news agency, a father and his child suffered head injuries from an attack involving sharp instruments in the village of Khirbet Shuweika, located south of Hebron. Both individuals were subsequently transported to a hospital for treatment.
In a related incident, settlers set fire to a home in the village of al-Lubban Asharqiya, south of Nablus. Members of the Palestinian Civil Defence responded to extinguish the flames.
Additional reports indicate that in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, settlers invaded the outskirts of the village, burning a vehicle and scrawling racist slogans on nearby homes. In al-Asa’asa, also in Jenin, Israeli forces compelled locals to exhume a recently buried body, citing proximity to an illegal settlement as the reason for the removal.
Settlers also assaulted a Palestinian man in Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem, stealing his mobile phone. Meanwhile, a group of Palestinians picnicking in the Burak Sulayman area, also near Bethlehem, were forced to disperse when Israeli forces fired stun grenades.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported treating two individuals for tear gas inhalation and evacuating five others following the incident.
In the town of Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem, Mayor Taysir Abu Mufreh stated that Israeli forces directed tear gas and sound bombs at worshippers exiting a local mosque, detaining several in the process.
Israeli forces arrested four Palestinian men in the town of Battir, west of Bethlehem, as they were hiking near a railway line. The next day, three additional arrests occurred during a raid in the city of Nablus.
Clashes erupted in the town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, as residents confronted settlers during their incursion.
Human rights organizations assert that Israeli authorities have allowed settlers to act with impunity in their actions against Palestinians. In February, a plan was approved by Israel to designate vast areas of the occupied West Bank as “state property.” Currently, over 700,000 Israelis reside in settlements within the region deemed illegal under international law.
