Israeli Forces, Settlers Escalate West Bank Raids and Attacks

Israeli forces conducted raids and made arrests across multiple areas of the occupied West Bank on Sunday, encountering confrontations with Palestinians. Simultaneously, Israeli settlers carried out attacks targeting Palestinians, their property, and vehicles. Israeli forces raided homes, searched them, and tampered with their contents, subjecting some residents to hours of field interrogations and mistreatment. In Jericho, settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles with stones near the settlement of Metzpe Yericho, while other settlers, under military protection, entered the city itself. In the Salfit region, two Palestinians were injured by settlers, one with a knife wound to the thigh and the other to the head, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Settlers also entered the Old City of Hebron under military escort. In Nablus, settlers raided the village of Huwara, performed Talmudic rituals at the "Al-Uzair" shrine, and Israeli forces raided areas including Tel Street and the village of Asira al-Qibliya, detaining a young man. In Jenin, Israeli forces raided the towns of Qabatiya and Mيثlon, and in Tubas, they raided Aqaba, arresting Ayman Qassem. Settlers also cut down 30 olive trees belonging to a resident in Khirbet Firasin near Ya'bad. Meanwhile, in occupied Jerusalem, settler groups called for gatherings and prayers outside the "Gate of Mercy" area of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, coinciding with the eve of Yom Kippur, in what Palestinian officials described as an attempt to impose Jewish rituals and symbols in the area, infringing on an Islamic cemetery.