Israeli settlers burn and destroy property despite West Bank attacks | Israel-Palestine Conflicts News

Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank set fire to farms and spray-painted racist slogans in a village near Ramallah, according to news reports, as Israeli military attacks escalated in recent days.

The attack came as Ronen Bar, the head of Israel's internal security agency, the Shin Bet (Shabak), called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to greenlight a major military offensive in the heavily populated area.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing witnesses, reported on Friday that a group of settlers attacked a farm on the outskirts of Khirbet Abu Falah where they burned a shed and left racist writing on the walls in Hebrew.

Images published online by the Quds News Network show the alleged attack.

Palestinian civil defense personnel were dispatched to put out the fire. No one was reported injured in the incident that took place on Thursday night.

Wafa reported that Khirbet Abu Falah, as well as the town of Turmus Aya and the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, have been attacked several times by Israeli settlers, who are said to have done so under the protection of Israeli soldiers.

Earlier, Israeli settlers also set fire to a Palestinian car in the village of Wadi Rahhal, south of Bethlehem, according to Al Quds Today.

The latest attack on Israeli settlers came after Palestinian gunmen shot and killed three Israeli settlers near the illegal settlement of Kedumim on Monday.

In the first week of 2025, Israeli attacks injured at least 18 Palestinians across the occupied territory, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

At the same time, at least three Palestinians, including a teenager, were killed by Israeli forces, and three more Palestinians, including a child, were killed in clashes, OCHA reported.

These figures do not include three other Palestinians, including two children, who were killed in an Israeli drone strike in the West Bank city of Tammun on Wednesday.

On Friday, Israeli forces continued raids in the West Bank, firing bombs and arresting many Palestinians.

In Qabatiya, south of Jenin, Israeli soldiers, who were disguised in civilian clothes, surrounded a house and bombed it, according to Wafa citing residents of the area.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Since the beginning of 2025, more than 50 Palestinians have been displaced by Israeli demolitions across the West Bank, according to OCHA.

Overnight, multiple Israeli attacks were reported across Nablus and Palestinian youths were arrested.

Pictures posted on Telegram and confirmed by Al Jazeera's Sanad agency show the moment Israeli soldiers lined up and arrested dozens of young men during an attack on the town of Deir Istiya, northwest of Salfit.

Israeli forces also raided the town of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem; the village of Nilin, west of Ramallah; the villages of Hajjah and Baqat al-Hatab, east of Qalqilya; and the Jalazone refugee camp, a constant target of Israeli military operations.

On Friday, the Shin Bet's Bar was quoted as saying in a Channel 12 news report that Israel should learn of the October 7 attack by Hamas and launch an offensive in the West Bank.

“A broad, reality-changing movement must be launched that will break down and end the phenomenon of Palestinian armed forces … to guarantee our freedom to operate there.”