Israel: Illegal settlers escalating attacks against Palestinians

Israeli data revealed that attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the occupied territories have increased sharply, noting that they include aggression on people, property, farms, trees and crops, Quds Press reported on Sunday.

The Walla news website reported that the Israeli security institution is worried about the increase in settler attacks against Palestinians.

It added that the Egyptians are currently discussing reinforcing the ceasefire with Islamic Jihad, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA), for the month of Ramadan which is due to start at the end of March.

Israeli army and security officials said that social media platforms are full of messages of incitement fed by remarks made by Israeli politicians.

During a meeting with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, the security and army officials reported the sharp increase in the settler violence, noting that 13 crimes were reported during the last week compared to three in the previous week.

Since the start of 2023, data presented to the Defence Minister included 102 reports about settler crimes across the occupied West Bank compared to 50 crimes during the same period in 2022.

A senior military official said, according to Walla, that the situation is “very dangerous and any incident could ignite the fire in the whole region.”

The officials stressed that Israel is looking to achieve calm before the start of Ramadan, pointing out that it is not on the right track for this. “Therefore, there is much fear that the situation might explode at any time,” the official warned.

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