Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

slide 3 of 2
THE BIZNOB – Global Business & Financial News – A Business Journal – Focus On Business Leaders, Technology – Enterpeneurship – Finance – Economy – Politics & LifestyleTHE BIZNOB – Global Business & Financial News – A Business Journal – Focus On Business Leaders, Technology – Enterpeneurship – Finance – Economy – Politics & Lifestyle

Politics

Politics

Israeli settler attacks fuel the fire as the Gaza war rages

SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB Mourners attend the funeral of four Palestinians killed in clashes with Israeli settlers, near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank October 12, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB Mourners attend the funeral of four Palestinian... SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB Mourners attend the funeral of four Palestinians killed in clashes with Israeli settlers, near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank October 12, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB Mourners attend the funeral of four Palestinians killed in clashes with Israeli settlers, near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank October 12, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB Mourners attend the funeral of four Palestinian... SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB Mourners attend the funeral of four Palestinians killed in clashes with Israeli settlers, near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank October 12, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo

Listen to the article now

Israeli settler attacks fuel the fire as the Gaza war rages. Mohammed Wadi, who is grieving for his brother and father, said that armed Israeli settlers from outposts overlooking his town in the West Bank, where olives are grown, have stopped aiming low when they shoot at Palestinian neighbors. “They shoot to kill now,” he remarked.

Already at a 15-year high this year, violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank escalated as Israel launched a fresh conflict in the independent enclave of Gaza in retaliation for Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas launching the bloodiest day in Israel’s history on October 7.

Days later, on October 12, two Reuters witnesses and three other persons there reported that Wadi’s father and brother were shot dead as armed Israeli settlers and troops broke up a burial cortege for three other Palestinians slain by settlers the day before. It was one of the more than 170 settler attacks on Palestinians that the United Nations has documented since the Hamas massacre.

“In the past, stones were thrown between Jews and Arabs. “It seems like everyone my age has automatic weapons these days,” 29-year-old Wadi remarked in the Qusra hamlet, which grows olives. Furthermore, he added that although armed settlers used to shoot natives to frighten or hurt them during conflicts, more and more shots ended in fatalities. Reuters was unable to determine with certainty who fired the Wadis. The three other people there corroborated the Palestinian officials’ assessment that the shooting seemed to originate from settlers rather than troops while they were investigating the funeral deaths.

The chief of the significant group of West Bank settlers, the Yesha Council, Shira Liebman, told Reuters that settlers had nothing to do with the deaths and were not explicitly targeting Palestinians. The hard-right in Israel One of at least two senior government officials residing in the settlements, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister of national security, stated he had given the order to buy 10,000 weapons to equip Israeli people, including settlers, following the Hamas attack.

A request for information on whether or not guns had already been supplied in the West Bank was not answered by Ben-Gvir’s office. On October 11, he tweeted that 900 assault rifles had been delivered in places north of the West Bank, near Lebanon, and hundreds more would be sent out shortly.

Twenty-nine individuals have died as a result of vigilante-style settler attacks this year, according to the U.N. Humanitarian Affairs Office (OCHA). Concerning ordinary Palestinians, Israeli security professionals, and Western officials alike, at least eight such incidents have occurred since October 7 alone. The European Union blasted “settler terrorism” on Tuesday, warning of a “dangerous escalation of the conflict,” while Washington has decried settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

According to U.N. estimates, since Hamas, which governs the coastal enclave of Gaza to Israel’s southwest, killed 1,400 Israelis and kidnapped over 200 more, the number of daily settler attacks has more than doubled. Since then, Israel has invaded and bombarded Gaza, killing about a thousand Palestinians. The West Bank is a complicated mix of hillside towns, Israeli settlements, and army checkpoints that divide Palestinian villages, while Hamas tightly controls constrained Gaza.

Hamas justified their killing spree by pointing to Israeli operations in the West Bank, which is essential to a future Palestinian state.

FUNERAL DEATHS

Mohammed’s father Ibrahim and brother Ahmed felt it was their responsibility to welcome the funeral procession when it returned with the remains from a neighboring hospital after Israelis shot and killed three Palestinians on October 11 at an olive grove near Qusra, he claimed.

The five witnesses reported that when the armed settlers obstructed the parade at a roadside in the sight of uniformed troops, Wadi’s father was shot in the body and his brother through the neck and chest. “It was gunfire from settlers,” stated Abdullah Abu Rahma, a member of the Settlement and Wall Resistance Commission of the Palestinian administration.

The Israeli military claimed that the event was being looked into and that it attempted to diffuse fighting between Israelis and Palestinians that day. While a local Hebrew-language social media group supporting settler activists claimed that the Israeli IDF had opened fire on the Wadis, settlement official Liebman denied that settlers were responsible for the fatalities.

“Brutal terrorist assaults have occurred more often than not. Settlement leader Liebman told Reuters, “We’re facing an enemy who wants to destroy us,” expressing common Israeli security concerns in the wake of the Hamas assault. “Local security teams” were outfitted to guard Jewish neighborhoods, according to Liebman.

Visible support for Hamas among Palestinians in the West Bank has increased since the October 7 massacre, even in regions where the Islamist organization has not historically been prevalent.

Based on United Nations figures, this year has been the bloodiest for West Bank inhabitants in at least 15 years, with almost 200 Palestinians and 26 Israelis slain. But another 121 Palestinians from the West Bank have died in the three weeks after the strike on October 7.

Conflicts with the military have caused the most deaths. But Israeli fanatics heighten Palestinian hatred, and many warn that this might lead to more significant military conflict.

According to the Israeli military, it was attempting to stop the violence and safeguard Palestinian citizens. “This compromises security. In response to questioning from Reuters regarding settler violence, a spokeswoman stated, “These incidents create more clashes, and it’s people who have taken the law into their own hands.”

“GREAT RISK”

According to Israeli security experts, the prolonged Gaza conflict and the increased influence of far-right parties are making it more difficult to quell violence connected to settlers.

Extremely suitable radicals pose a severe threat to the West Bank, according to Lior Akerman, a former Shin Bet internal security service agent in Israel.

He said that settlers are using soldiers battling Lebanese Hezbollah in Gaza and northern Israel to launch unrestricted strikes. “Now that the army is increasingly busier, immigrants may operate more freely.

“They also receive support from government representatives, which makes it difficult for security organizations,” he stated. In an attempt to win a second term, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu selected Ben-Gvir and other radical right-wing ministers to his cabinet last year.

“What makes things more difficult to keep under control (in the West Bank) is sporadic Palestinian terrorism,” stated a senior Israeli government official who wished to remain anonymous.

This week, the defense ministry ordered the administrative arrest of Ariel Danino, a well-known settler activist, on state security grounds. Palestinian activists often use this measure, and it is a hint that the settler events concern the Israeli security establishment.

“SEND US GUNS.”

Wadi’s family is well-connected to the neighborhood. He claims to have witnessed the surge in settler violence and that the family rejects using force. He works for a Palestinian government organization that monitors settler and troop violence.

According to Wadi, extreme settlers despised Ibrahim, his father, a local official who attempted to arbitrate disputes between Palestinian and Israeli officials to lessen bloodshed. According to Akerman, there’s a chance that settler aggression in the West Bank is what sparked a recently formed group of Palestinian militants’ armed actions. On Tuesday, one, The Lion’s Den, called for strikes on Israel.

According to a witness who spoke to Reuters, Palestinian gunmen watched the burial that was held after the Wadis were slain on October 12 from a roof, perhaps keeping an eye out for any acts of violence by the settler community.

While the Israeli military restricts Palestinian mobility throughout the West Bank and detains hundreds of individuals, there hasn’t been any significant action up to this point. Last week in Qusra, Wadi sat beneath a sign honoring his father and brother. It looked through his phone to see whether any Hebrew-language social media groups were threatening to kill local Palestinians.

He expressed feeling encircled. Qusra is surrounded by a massive wall that encloses a fortress-like hamlet, while two additional settlements are perched on hills above the village’s olive trees.

A resident named Abdullah, who only gave his first name, expressed even more rage. “I’m ready to grab a gun. He murmured, “If only someone would give us some.”


Comment Template

You May Also Like

Business

Starting in 2024, the IRS will lower the Form 1099-K reporting threshold to $5,000 for business transactions via payment platforms like PayPal and Venmo....

Business

The stock market saw major premarket moves on February 14, 2025. Roku and Airbnb surged on strong earnings, while Moderna and Informatica fell on...

Business

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway trimmed its stake in DaVita amid a weaker 2025 outlook, causing an 8% stock decline. Rising costs and dialysis center...

Business

Stock futures dipped amid new trade policy shifts from President Trump, while GameStop surged on crypto investment speculation. Major retailers scaled back DEI commitments,...

Notice: The Biznob uses cookies to provide necessary website functionality, improve your experience and analyze our traffic. By using our website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Cookie Policy.

Ok