While the focus is on Gaza, Jewish settler violence escalates in the West Bank

At a time when all eyes are on the Gaza raids, Israeli army violations against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and violence by Jewish settlers are both escalating.

The UN has reported that since 7 October, 2023 some 820 Palestinians have been displaced in the West Bank, and attacks by Israeli settlers have increased from an average of three to seven per day.

In the same period, more than 400 settler attacks were carried out in the area, resulting in nine Palestinians being killed.

Palestinians stress that the constant expansion of illegal Jewish settlements, all settlements are illegal under international law, is one of the biggest threats to the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and is fragmenting the West Bank territory supposedly allocated for such a state.

Armed Jewish settlers living in the area attack Palestinians frequently and force them to leave their homes. For them, it was as if nothing had happened. They were singing and dancing. In their songs, they said, ‘We killed three. Now it’s the fourth’s turn.’

With the attack on Gaza, Jewish settlers along with the Israeli army and this fanatical Israeli government were given permission to organize attacks to kill Palestinians. Emphasizing that they cannot go out on the streets.

If you are going out into the streets, you need to say your goodbyes to your family and children because you may not come back home. Threatening letters have been sent to many villages and towns.

You either go voluntarily to the east of the Jordan River or you will be killed. Calling the rain of bombs on the Gaza Strip ‘inhumane’, Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter called for action to be taken against the occupation state.

Middle East Monitor / ABC Flash Point News 2023.