The Israeli occupation army carried out a number of attacks near Nablus, Jenin and Bethlehem beating five young Palestinians and attacking olive pickers.
The Israeli occupation army carried on its military offensive in the occupied West Bank conducting a number of raids in various Palestinian cities.
The occupation forces opened fire on Sunday at a group of villagers picking olives during the olive harvest season near the village of Qusra, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
According to WAFA, there were no reported injuries among the farmers.
Anti-settlement activist Fouad Hassan, who reported the incident, told WAFA that this comes in line with the ongoing campaign against Palestinian farmers during the harvest season by both the Israeli occupation forces and illegal Jewish settlers.
Measures include but are not limited to almost daily attacks by illegal settlers, through physically assaulting farmers, destroying their property, forcibly expelling them at gunpoint from their lands, stealing their crops or releasing their livestock in the land of Palestinian farmers.
Jewish historian Ilan Pappe warns that Israel’s actions in Gaza, which he describes as “genocide by all legal definitions,” could extend to the West Bank unless Western powers reconsider their support for Zionist policies. Speaking from Brussels, Pappe highlighted Israel’s… pic.twitter.com/2nX4HTj1f4
— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) October 27, 2024
Palestinian farmers endure huge financial losses due to these oppressive measures.
According to WAFA, estimates show that farmers may be unable to access around 80,000 dunums of olive-growing land, potentially leading to a loss of approximately 15% of this year’s olive crop due to colonist violence under the protection of the Israeli army.
Along with the ongoing Israeli raids, an Israeli occupation force stormed earlier on Saturday, the village al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, beating five young Palestinian men, WAFA reported quoting local sources.
According to local sources, the heavily armed occupation soldiers physically assaulted the five young men while they were in the streets of the village.
The occupation soldiers reportedly opened intense fire and dropped concussion grenades and tear gas canisters after being deployed in the various neighborhoods and alleyways of the village, WAFA said.
According to WAFA, the occupation army also opened fire on a number of vehicles parked outside residential homes in the village, sustaining damage to at least one.
Cutting Down Olive Trees – Israel’s Way to Steal Palestinian Land
Moreover, sources told WAFA that the occupation forces ordered one man out of his car before they fired a tear gas canister inside the vehicle.
These ongoing raids come under the pretext of searching for “wanted Palestinians” and always end up in confrontations between the occupation army forces and the Palestinian population.
In parallel, the Israeli army conducted another raid on Saturday in al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.
WAFA reported that the occupation soldiers stormed the town and deployed forces near the town’s mosque and al-Bawaba area while firing barrages of concussion grenades and tear gas canisters at several stores, which sustained material damage.
In another incident, the Israeli army raided the town of Ya’bad, southwest of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, and fired gunfire, which resulted in confrontations with the Palestinian local population, WAFA said.
According to the Palestinian news agency, there was no information on any casualties.
‘My Tears Don’t Dry’ – Layan’s Story Sheds Light on Administrative Detention of Palestinian Women
New Battlefield
The Israeli offensive in the occupied West Bank since the start of the genocide on Gaza last year has claimed the lives of 760 Palestinians, 18 of whom are women and 166 children, and over 6,500 recorded injuries, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health numbers.
Last September, Israeli media reported that Israel now considers the West Bank a battlefield, following days of escalated operations.
In addition to the casualties, significant damage has been inflicted on the infrastructure of cities like Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, and Tubas amongst others.
The United Nations Refugee and Works Agency (UNRWA) said that the first week of September has been the “deadliest” for Palestinians in the West Bank since November of last year.
“Many people were killed, including seven children,” UNRWA said on X, adding that “As the war rages in Gaza, violence and destruction in the West Bank increase by the hour.”
(WAFA, PC)
