Israeli soldiers and police were involved in an altercation with Israeli settlers in the Israel-held West Bank earlier this week. Violence has surged in the West Bank after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel and Israeli settlers allegedly have attacked Palestinians and targeted aid trucks headed to Gaza.
At least 505 people, including three killed this Thursday, have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank since October 7, according to the Palestinian health ministry’s count.
Israeli forces say that some of the deaths are those of extremists who pose security threats. At least 20 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks over the same period, according to a tally compiled by Israeli authorities.
The latest flare-up of violence happened when aid trucks were crossing through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint. Israeli settlers, according to Haaretz and the Times of Israel, attacked a truck in the central West Bank and assaulted its driver mistaking him and his truck for an aid truck headed to Rafah.
A separate report by AFP, however, pointed out that the incident took place near Kokhav Hashahar, an Israeli settlement in the central West Bank, a territory held by Israel since 1967.
Israeli soldiers intervened to “separate the Israeli civilians from the attacked Israeli driver” and provided medical assistance.
The group then “responded with violence”, and three Israeli soldiers were “lightly injured”, the army said, condemning “all forms of violence against its soldiers and security forces”.
More than four times this week, trucks crossing the Israel-held West Bank were attacked by settlers backed by far-right Israeli groups, according to Israeli media. On Monday, dozens of people blocked and vandalised a convoy of aid trucks driving to the Gaza Strip.
The trucks were attacked in Israel, shortly after passing through the Tarqumiya checkpoint from the West Bank. The report by AFP said that Israeli soldiers watched on as the attackers destroyed the aid.
The IDF and Israeli police said they will take legal action against the troublemakers. They said that they used tear gas and stun grenades against dozens of rioting settlers protesting aid to Gaza and for hurling rocks at Palestinian cars at Tapuah Junction south of Nablus.
Canada this week announced sanctions against Israeli settlers who allegedly committed acts of violence against Palestinians living in the West Bank. In recent months, the UK, France, the European Union and the United States announced sanctions against settlers in the West Bank.
“The rise in violence by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank is deeply troubling and poses significant risks to peace and security in the region,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in the statement.
The sanctions include a ban on transactions with the settlers and on their entry into Canada. Canada sanctioned David Chai Chasdai, accused of instigating a riot in the Palestinian town of Huwara, south of Nablus, leading to the death of a Palestinian civilian.
Israel has maintained control over areas of the West Bank, home to three million Palestinians, since 1967 and around 490,000 Israeli settlers live there but these communities are considered illegal according to international law.
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