Settlers wound international activists in occupied West Bank attack

Two international activists were injured on Wednesday when Israeli settlers attacked them in the town of Qusra, south of Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank. Palestine Red Crescent spokesman Ahmed Jibril said that ambulance crews transferred the activists to hospital after the brutal assault.

The victims were identified as a 22 years old young man and a woman who suffered from a broken hand during the attack.

Eyewitnesses said that the illegal settlers attacked Palestinian-owned agricultural land in Qusra and assaulted residents and international solidarity activists. A fight broke out between the settlers and residents, after which the Israeli army intervened.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank amid a deadly Israeli offensive that has killed almost 41,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since 7 October, and wounded 94,500 others.

At least 685 Palestinians have since been killed, and nearly 5,700 others wounded, by Israeli army fire in the occupied West Bank in the same period, according to the Health Ministry.

An advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land to be “unlawful” and said that it should be brought to an end “as rapidly as possible”.

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