Israeli occupiers burn 3 Palestinian vehicles, damage power grid in West Bank

Israeli occupiers escalated attacks Tuesday on Palestinian towns and villages in the northern occupied West Bank, burning three vehicles, attacking homes and damaging a power grid.

Palestinian anti-settlement activist Bashar al-Qaryouti told Anadolu that a group of occupiers attacked citizens' homes in the area between the villages of Jalud and Talfit, south of Nablus, and set fire to three vehicles.

The occupiers also tried to set fire to a residential building, but residents noticed the attack and confronted them, preventing the fire from spreading, Qaryouti said.

In a separate attack early Tuesday, occupiers damaged part of the electricity network in the town of Madama, south of Nablus.

Madama village council head Rami Nassar said occupiers from a newly established outpost between the towns of Beita, Tell and Madama damaged electricity poles supplying the town.

The attack is the second of its kind in a week, destroying part of the power network and causing outages in parts of the town, Nassar told Anadolu.

Villages south of Nablus, particularly Jalud, Qaryut, Talfit, Qusra and Madama, have witnessed an escalation in occupier attacks, including the burning of property, assaults on residents, attacks on homes, and the destruction of infrastructure and farmland, amid protection from the Israeli army.

RAID AT PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST'S RESIDENCE

In the West Bank city of Tulkarm, Israeli forces raided and vandalized the residence of Muayyad Shaaban, head of the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, the commission said.

In a statement, the Palestine Liberation Organization-affiliated commission said Israeli forces raided Shaaban's home overnight.

"The raid cannot be separated from the ongoing campaign of targeting Shaaban and his family," the commission said.

Two of Shaaban's sons remain in Israeli detention, it added.

The commission's work focuses on documenting and resisting Israeli settlement policies in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem.

Since Israel began its genocide in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023, Israeli army and occupier attacks against Palestinians and their property have intensified across the occupied West Bank.

The attacks have killed more than 1,182 Palestinians, injured around 13,000 and led to the arrest of nearly 24,000 in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to official Palestinian figures.

Palestinians warn that Israel is paving the way through these attacks to formally annex the West Bank, undermining the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state under relevant UN resolutions.