Israeli occupation forces carried out a broad arrest campaign across several parts of the West Bank early Sunday, detaining eight Palestinians, including two children, as groups of settlers attacked villages south of Nablus and Jenin, setting fire to homes, vehicles, and a village council building and wounding several young men as residents tried to repel the attacks.
The violence marked the latest escalation in raids, arrests, and settler assaults across the West Bank, where attacks on Palestinians and their property have risen sharply in recent months, according to Palestinian monitoring groups.
The occupation army carried out the arrest campaign after raiding homes, vandalizing property, and assaulting residents. In Tuqu‘, southeast of Bethlehem, Israeli forces arrested four people from the same family, after raiding and searching their homes. In Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, troops raided several homes, ransacked their contents, and conducted field interrogations. Nasser Ayesh Ikhlil, 60, was beaten in front of his family, and two 16-year-olds were arrested. In Deir Nizam, northwest of Ramallah, forces arrested teenager Muadh Ahmed Al-Tamimi after raiding his home.
In Jalud, south of Nablus, dozens of settlers attacked the village under the protection of occupation forces and set fire to homes, vehicles, and the village council building, wounding three young men who were taken to hospitals in Nablus. Similar attacks were reported in other areas of Jenin and Nablus, including the burning of homes and vehicles and injuries to residents.
The attacks came after settlers called on social media for marches on Saturday evening following the death of one settler and the injury of another in a crash involving a stolen vehicle from the town of Beit Imerin, north of Nablus, according to the Palestinian Information Center.
The campaign comes as occupation forces continue raids and arrests in cities and towns across the West Bank, with a noticeable increase in the targeting of children during nighttime raids.
Sunday’s violence came amid a broader rise in raids and settler attacks. The Palestinian center said about 1,965 attacks by occupation forces and settlers were recorded in February, including beatings, tree uprooting, arson, land seizures, and demolitions of homes and facilities. It said settler attacks had risen by more than 25% since the outbreak of the war on Iran, killing eight Palestinians in separate incidents.
The Palestine Information Center also documented 18,595 violations in the West Bank since the start of 2026, killing 34 Palestinians and wounding hundreds. In a statement issued Sunday, it said the attacks ranged from raids and arrests to direct assaults and reflected a systematic escalation aimed at pressuring Palestinians and undermining their ability to remain on their land.
Egypt condemned the latest attacks, calling them a blatant violation of international law and international legitimacy resolutions, and urged the international community to protect Palestinian civilians and hold those responsible accountable.
The violence comes as Israel moves to expand its illegal presence in the occupied West Bank, including through Israeli security cabinet approval of far-reaching changes to land administration and registration in the West Bank, as well as measures allowing the demolition of Palestinian-owned buildings in Area A, which lies under the full civil and security control of the Palestinian National Authority under the 1995 Oslo II accord.
On Dec. 11, the Israeli security cabinet approved a plan to establish 19 new settlements, in what rights groups described as entrenching a policy of imposing facts on the ground and an unprecedented expansion of settlement construction.
Israel’s settlement activity and arrest campaigns in the West Bank have continued despite assurances by Jennifer Locetta, the US deputy representative to the UN, that President Donald Trump “will not allow Israel to annex any part of the West Bank,” and despite a promise Trump made to Arab and Muslim leaders in late September.
