Several hurt in Israeli raid in West Bank as illegal settlers continue assaults against Palestinians

Israeli army forces injured several Palestinians, including children, in military raids in the West Bank on Sunday, as illegal settlers continued their assaults in the occupied territory, an activist and local media said.

According to the official news agency Wafa, Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters during a raid in the town of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem. Several residents suffered temporary asphyxiation from the Israeli tear gas.

Two Palestinians were detained during the raid, while a third was arrested in Hebron in the southern West Bank.

Israeli forces also arrested two more Palestinians in Nablus, three in Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, and three others in the central city of Ramallah.

Meanwhile, illegal Israeli settlers forced Palestinian shepherds to abandon their grazing lands in the northern Jordan Valley, northeast of the occupied West Bank, local activist Aref Daraghmeh told Wafa.

Daraghmeh said the area has seen a significant rise in settler attacks targeting Palestinians and their property.

The Palestinian Jordan Valley spans approximately 1.6 million dunams (about 400,000 acres), home to around 13,000 illegal Israeli settlers across 38 illegal settlements, while about 65,000 Palestinians live in 34 communities.

Israel controls more than 80% of the Jordan Valley, designating it a security and economic buffer zone, and aims to maintain its military presence there in any final peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Palestinians say they will not establish their independent state without the Jordan Valley, which comprises about 30% of the West Bank and is rich in natural resources.

According to Israeli government data, illegal settlers staged 414 attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank in the first half of this year, up 30% from 2024.

Since the start of Israel's genocidal war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, at least 989 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.