Israeli settlers shoot Palestinians and torch cars in latest West Bank assaults

Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians on Friday, wounding at least five people, setting fire to at least three cars and a house and destroying agricultural land across the occupied West Bank.

In the town of al-Mazraa al-Sharqiya, east of Ramallah, a group of settlers launched an assault that led to confrontations.

Three Palestinians were wounded by Israeli live fire and transferred to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah for treatment.

Meanwhile, in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron, a man and his wife were injured during separate settler attacks. The couple were taken to Yatta Governmental Hospital.

In the town of Atara, northwest of Ramallah, settlers carried out arson attacks and sprayed racist graffiti in the early hours of Friday, reportedly under the protection of Israeli forces.

As troops stormed the area, settlers set vehicles and a house ablaze, while defacing walls with offensive slogans.

The violence followed the re-establishment of an illegal settler outpost on Thursday in the same town, where tents were erected at the site of Jabal Khirbat Tarfirn, near the town's entrance.

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law.

Settlers have long been shielded by the Israeli military during attacks on Palestinians and rarely face prosecution, even in cases of premeditated violence or murder.

جانب من الاعتداء الإرهابيّ الذي نفّذه مستوطنون بمهاجمة المنازل وإحراق مركبة ومنزل في قرية عطارة شمال رام الله.

للتفاصيل: https://t.co/Es8GGmVsXJ pic.twitter.com/qrBaVKoJYL

— موقع عرب 48 (@arab48website) August 15, 2025

Translation: An angle of the terrorist attack carried out by settlers, involving the assault on homes and the burning of a vehicle and a house in the village of Atara, north of Ramallah.

Ayed Ghafri, an activist from the village of Sinjil, northeast of Ramallah, previously told Middle East Eye that residents have faced repeated settler attacks in recent months, including the burning of homes and crops, stone-throwing and physical assaults.

Ghafri accused the Israeli military of colluding with settlers by blocking ambulances from reaching the wounded and directly attacking Palestinians.

Settler violence has also been reported on farms and in agricultural areas across the occupied West Bank, including Ramallah, Hebron and Nablus.

Attacks by settlers have surged since Israel began its genocide in Gaza in October 2023.

In June, the United Nations reported that settler violence had reached its highest level in at least two decades, alongside a sharp rise in the construction of illegal outposts.