Dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers harvesting olives across several West Bank villages on Friday with burning Olive trees, setting vehicles ablaze and injuring multiple people including journalist.
Witnesses reported that around 80 settlers descended on the village of Abu Falah, hurling rocks and using slingshots against farmers engaged in the annual harvest. Israeli military forces arrived at the scene but fired tear gas and live ammunition toward Palestinians as settlers continued their assault.
Among those hospitalized was Heidi Levine an acclaimed photojournalist for The Washington Post. Levine speaking from a Ramallah hospital in stable condition and stated that settlers pushed her to the ground and repeatedly kicked her until Palestinian colleagues intervened.
Simultaneous attacks were reported in Turmus Ayya and Burqa where settlers set fire to olive groves and four vehicles including one belonging to Civil Defense volunteers. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society treated multiple casualties for physical assaults, gunshot wounds and severe tear gas inhalation.
The attacks mark a dramatic escalation in settler violence since the start of the olive harvest season in late September. According to Israeli monitoring group Yesh Din over 170 settler attacks have been documented during this period.
Rights organizations and international observers accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government of enabling settler impunity.
Despite mounting international condemnation and sanctions from Western allies for violence against Palestinian farming communities continues to rise across the occupied West Bank home to 3 million Palestinians and roughly 500,000 Israeli settlers.
