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The The Israeli army has launched a deadly attack in the occupied West Bank, destroying several towns and villages and detaining hundreds of Palestinians, amid increasing violence against Jewish citizens, angered by shootings in a village near Nablus in which four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed.
The “major military operation” across the West Bank ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the deaths of soldiers escalated on Sunday, with residents becoming more emboldened and violent, destroying villages, stripping graffiti from homes and attacking Palestinians.
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Settlers tried to set fire to two mosques. At one of them, the newly built Al-Rahma mosque in the town of Qusra southeast of Nablus, residents painted words like “revenge of the Jews” on the walls, said Abdel Azim Wadi, head of the Qusra village council. Footage confirmed by Al Jazeera showed the fire destroying the mosque.
Another mosque affected by these attacks was in the village of Kour, south of Tulkarem. Farid Jiyousi, a member of the village council, said three people tried to set fire to the mosque in the early hours of the morning, but worshipers put out the fire before it reached the main area of the site.
Reporting from Ramallah, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said Israeli forces attacked Rafidia near Nablus.
“He was also seen in Huwara, in the Nablus area, fighting a medical assistant with a man. There is a video that is being circulated from witnesses about it. The Palestine Red Crescent Society also reported an attack on one of the medical workers in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron,” he said.
“So, in the populated West Bank it happened overnight.”
Separately, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that 30 people were arrested in the village of Tal, where the clash that caused the chaos took place, as well as 14 in Ramallah, five in Jenin, eight in Hebron, three in Bethlehem and six in Tulkarem.
The deceased also said that The Israeli army The attack was launched in Jenin city and several towns and villages in Jenin district, including Zababdeh, Faqua, Yabad, Burqin, Jalbun, Qabatiya, Jalqamus, Silat al-Harithiya, al-Yamoun, Kafr Dan, Deir Abu Daif and Zububa.
International correspondent Kan reported that the Israeli army had imposed strict traffic restrictions and numerous security checkpoints on highways and at the entrance to villages across the occupied West Bank.
The firefight that triggered a brutal and repressive military response took place on Friday in Tal, southwest of Nablus. Each side disputes what caused the conflict. However, video footage corroborates the testimony of villagers who say that a group of about 20 Israelis, many of them armed with guns, went to Tal with the intention of starting violence.
The villagers came out of their houses to meet the residents, and when the conflict escalated, the Israeli army arrived. One of the villagers snatched the gun from the stranger, and a shootout broke out.
Israeli army spokeswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Ella Waweya, said on Sunday Israeli soldiers were raiding the homes of people in Tal who were suspected of being involved in Friday’s violence. He said the buildings were “beaten in preparation for temporary sealing, if the first part is demolished”.
Israel has a policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinians accused of murderous crimes, which human rights groups denounce as collective punishment that violates international law.
Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, said Israeli residents are not being held accountable for their crimes. “We are seeing an increase in direct violence,” he told Al Jazeera.
Bennis said Israel’s distinction between settlers and soldiers is false.
“Some of the settlers are part of the Israeli army. They work in the depots. They have weapons. Most of them are trained by the army. They are all using weapons provided by the US. So this difference is not very important. They are all supported by the Israeli government,” he said.
“And what we’re seeing now is a deliberate decision to commit military violence. So we’re seeing collective punishment. We’re seeing hospitals being attacked.”
Israeli forces and settlers have stepped up their attacks on the occupied West Bank after October 7, 2023, when the deadly war in Gaza began. Since then, they have killed at least 1,185 Palestinians, including more than 250 children. At least 12,652 Palestinians have been injured and more than 24,000 have been arrested.
As of July 1, 2026, 9,299 Palestinians remain in Israeli prisons, of which 3,244 are held without trial.
The United Nations and rights groups have criticized Israel for its lack of accountability, saying that settlers are rarely prosecuted and Israeli soldiers are never found guilty.
The latest violence comes three months before Israel’s general election.
Polls suggest Netanyahu may lose power. Landgrabs and accelerating the establishment of new illegal settlements sit well with his right-wing support base.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that Israel plans to build 763 new housing units in the illegal settlement of Eli, south of Nablus.
Meanwhile, hundreds gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest against increasing hostilities and military incursions into the West Bank.
Israeli police arrested nine protesters, saying the protests continued without a permit and had begun to “disrupt public order and block the street”.
