New attacks near Bethlehem and Hebron underscore intensifying Israeli violence in occupied Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n
Israeli settlers have launched two major arson attacks on Palestinian villages near Bethlehem and Hebron amid a wave of rising violence<\/a> by Israel in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n Dozens of settlers rampaged through the village of al-Jaba, located 10km (six miles) southwest of Bethlehem, on Monday, torching three Palestinian homes, one shack and three vehicles, according to Dhyab Masha\u2018la, the head of the local council.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n Masha\u2018la told Palestinian news agency Wafa that the attackers caused extensive damage to the village, but that locals had managed to extinguish the flames. No casualties were reported.<\/p>\n Earlier on Monday, Wafa said settlers set fire to a home and two vehicles, and physically assaulted several civilians in Sa\u2019ir town, northeast of Hebron, under the protection of Israeli forces.<\/p>\n The Israeli settlers beat the Palestinians with batons and sharp instruments, resulting in injuries to a number of women, with Israeli forces blocking fire engines and ambulances from reaching the scene, the agency reported.<\/p>\n Violence in the West Bank has broken new records this year, with settlers carrying out almost-daily attacks on Palestinians that have involved killings<\/a>, beatings and the destruction of property, often under the protection of the Israeli military.<\/p>\n Last wek, settlers set a mosque ablaze<\/a> in the village of Deir Istiya in the north of the West Bank.<\/p>\n The Palestinian Authority\u2019s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission says that Israeli forces and settlers carried out\u00a02,350 attacks<\/a> across the West Bank last month alone in an \u201congoing cycle of terror\u201d, which has been taking place in the shadow of the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n The violence is rarely prosecuted.<\/p>\n Referring to the attack on al-Jaba, an Israeli military spokesperson said security forces were \u201csearching for those involved\u201d after being deployed to the village following reports of \u201cdozens of Israeli citizens\u201d torching and vandalising houses and vehicles.<\/p>\n Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has overseen the rapid expansion of settlements, denounced Monday\u2019s attack, calling the assailants a \u201csmall, extremist group\u201d and signalling that he would convene cabinet ministers to address the problem.<\/p>\n Defence Minister Israel Katz said on X that the government would \u201cnot tolerate the attempts of a small group of violent and criminal anarchists who break the law to take the law into their own hands and tarnish the settler community\u201d.<\/p>\n But his statement backed the continued expansion of illegal settlements on Palestinian land.<\/p>\n The government, Katz said, would \u201ccontinue to develop and foster the settlement enterprise throughout Judea and Samaria\u201d.<\/p>\n