Dozens of Israeli settlers launched an arson attack on agricultural areas in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday night, the latest such attack in a surge in settler violence, according to Palestinian activists in the region.
The attack occurred in the town of Beit Lid, east of Turkham, and was shown on video, residents told CNN, damaging the village of Deir Sharaf Bedouin and the al-Juneidi dairy factory.
Footage obtained by CNN shows men with fire extinguishers and water buckets rushing to put out the fire, with smoke billowing in the area and a Palestinian woman’s screams heard in the background.
Video shows trucks, tents and metal sheds being set on fire and car windows smashed.
Residents said Palestinian civil defense forces and firefighters arrived at the scene about an hour after the fire broke out.
Another video shot by a Palestinian resident shows settlers descending down a hill toward a Bedouin village.
The attack is the latest in a surge of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, which has occurred almost daily since mid-October. A U.N. report released Friday claims Israeli settlers carried out at least 264 attacks in October, the highest number since the U.N. began tracking incidents in 2006, and this year’s olive harvest season has been marred by extreme violence.
Surveillance video of the arson incident obtained by CNN showed settlers storming the dairy, brandishing clubs and setting fire to parked vehicles. One of the trucks, a cargo truck with the logo of a dairy factory, appeared to be completely burnt out, with thick black smoke billowing out of it.
Gilad Khalif, an Israeli left-wing Democratic lawmaker, condemned the settlers’ attack on X, saying: “Their aim is to provoke a third intifada and to launch an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) operation reminiscent of the Gaza operation. This move will cost the lives of hundreds of Israeli soldiers and civilians, as well as thousands of Palestinians.”
The Israel Defense Forces said it sent soldiers to the area following “reports that dozens of masked Israeli civilians attacked Palestinians and set fire to property in the area.”
“During the incident, four Palestinians were injured and evacuated for treatment. Security forces worked to quell the confrontation using riot-control measures and arrested several Israeli civilians,” the IDF said in a statement. The Israeli Defense Forces said the settlers attacked soldiers and damaged Israeli military vehicles.
Israeli police said they had arrested four Israeli “suspects” following “extreme violence” and transported them for questioning.
“Police investigators are currently working with security forces to collect evidence at the scene, including documents, witness statements and forensic findings,” it added.
The arson attack is the latest in a wave of escalating violence during the olive harvest season in the West Bank.
Saturday’s attack on the village of Beita, where Palestinian farmers were harvesting olives, injured at least 10 people, including three doctors, four journalists and three activists, said Jonathan Pollack, an Israeli activist who was also injured at the scene.
Activist Oded Yedaya, an Israeli photographer and administrator of Tel Aviv’s Minshal School of Art, was beaten so badly that he had to be hospitalized, Pollack said. Images obtained by CNN show Yedaya’s entire face and torso covered in blood and a white cloth wrapped around her head.
Pollack told CNN that Yedaya suffered a fractured cheekbone and jaw.
The IDF told CNN in a statement on Saturday that it was aware of the incident “following reports of clashes between Israeli civilians and Palestinians” and had sent soldiers to the area around the nearby Israeli outpost of Ebiatal.
In the nearby village of Burin, Israelis and foreign activists were injured, including off-duty Israeli Army reservist Yuval Ben Ali.
Ben Ali said in a phone interview with CNN that he sees videos of Palestinians being “brutally beaten” by settlers every day and feels compelled to go out and support them.
“I think it’s important for Israelis to get out of bed, get out of the house and do some real activism, not just like content on Facebook or retweet articles,” he said.
Early Saturday morning, he was standing alongside seven Israeli activists picking olives on a Palestinian farm when he saw at least 20 masked settlers coming down a hill brandishing clubs and bats.
He said he knew they would “terrorize the entire region.”
“I stood in front of them and said, ‘Please don’t do this. I don’t want to do this,'” he said before revealing to them that he was a reservist. However, the seizures did not stop, and he suffered a head injury and a mild concussion, requiring hospitalization.
“I was covered in blood and in pain, but when I managed to stand up, the colonists yelled, ‘Don’t come here again. Don’t betray your people.'”
In response to questions from CNN, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement: “Soldiers were dispatched to the Burin area following reports of stones being thrown at Israeli military vehicles.”
“Both Israeli and Palestinian civilians were injured and evacuated to receive medical treatment…The IDF condemns all acts of violence and will continue its operations to maintain security and order in the area,” the statement continued.
Ben Ali told CNN that soldiers who arrived at the scene did not stop the attack, a condemnation echoed by many Palestinians and activists in other incidents.
