Israeli settlers attack farmers in West Bank pogrom, soldiers hit reporters

Witnesses and local media said groups of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian olive pickers and homes across several West Bank communities on Saturday, with soldiers present at some scenes. Al Jazeera reporters on the ground and a volunteer activist described a confrontation in which about 50 masked settlers threw stones and attacked a house; soldiers then arrived, detained Palestinians and foreign activists harvesting olives, and ordered them to leave at gunpoint. In the Jabal Qamass area of Beita, south of Nablus, reporters covering the events were reportedly detained and assaulted by Israeli forces, according to Al Jazeera’s colleagues in the field. Footage and local media also showed settlers smashing a Palestinian vehicle in Osarin and attacking a home in Beita. The Palestinian news agency Wafa said in Osarin settlers fired tear gas at residents and journalists, stoned vehicles and assaulted several villagers. Palestinian media reported that some residents attempted to repel the attacks. Al Jazeera footage captured incidents of trees being burned in olive groves and people being rounded up during the confrontations. Palestinian authorities and local reporting place these incidents within a wider surge of violence in the West Bank, which they say has intensified since February and escalated following the October 2023 war in Gaza. Local figures cited in reporting note that Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in the period since October 2023, and that a number of fatalities this year have been attributed to attackers identified as settlers. Independent verification of all individual claims in the immediate aftermath is not provided in the cited reports.