WEST BANK, (PIC)
Violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank has intensified, with a Palestinian man abducted near Qalqilya and another attack targeting homes in a village south of Nablus, according to local sources.
On Saturday morning, armed settlers abducted a man in his 60s, identified as Shaher al-Tawil, from the town of Far’ata east of Qalqilya.
His son said that four armed settlers traveling in a pickup truck intercepted his father at gunpoint while he was heading to his farmland.
The attackers reportedly came from the direction of a nearby settlement outpost before taking the elderly man to an unknown location. His family says his fate remains unknown amid fears for his safety.
Local reports noted that al-Tawil is the father of a detained Palestinian woman, currently pregnant, who was arrested in March, adding to the family’s concerns.
The abduction comes amid a broader surge in settler violence in the area, where attacks have increasingly targeted farmers in an apparent attempt to prevent access to agricultural land.
A day earlier, settlers attacked homes in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, throwing stones and opening fire in the southern part of the village. Local residents confronted the attackers, leading to clashes.
Data from Palestinian monitoring groups indicates a sharp rise in such incidents. During March alone, settlers carried out nearly 500 attacks across the West Bank, with the highest concentrations reported in Nablus, al-Khalil, and Ramallah.
Overall, more than 1,800 attacks by Israeli forces and settlers were recorded during the same month, targeting Palestinians and their property.
In the past week alone, six Palestinians were martyred and dozens injured in over 1,100 reported violations across the West Bank and Jerusalem, highlighting what observers describe as a rapidly escalating pattern of violence.
