Israeli settlers torch Palestinian grocery, cars and buildings near Nablus

Israeli settlers launched attacks on Palestinians near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, setting fire to buildings and vehicles.

Civil defence crews and the fire brigade set out to control fires east and south of the city early Wednesday morning, according to Facebook posts by the Palestinian civil defence, adding that the fires in the east were "controlled and the site was secured for any other assaults".

The settlers torched a total of two homes, three vehicles and a grocery store in the towns of Huwwara and Beit Furik.

Shortly after the arson attacks in Beit Furik, local media reported that Israeli troops stormed the al-Dhubat neighbourhood of the town, clashing with Palestinians in the area. 

Meanwhile in Huwwara, settlers attacked several homes under the protection of Israeli forces, according to local testimonies.

Nahi Hanneneh, Beit Furik's mayor, told Middle East Eye that dozens of masked settlers from the nearby Itamar settlement attacked the western part of the town, specifically the houses belonging to local residents Muhammad Rebhi Adel Hanneneh and his brother Omar.

"They broke the windows of Omar's home and set ablaze Muhammad's Mercedes car and his house, which is currently under construction.

'They want us to leave this country... These attacks, you can't escape them. But we're ready for them'

- Muhammad Rebhi Ali Shadeh, resident of Beit Furik

"These [settler] attacks have risen over the past two to three weeks, making this the third time in a row Itamar settlers set fire to cars," the mayor said, adding that two weeks ago, the settlers torched gardens and cars.

"This is a system that the Israeli government follows where they let Ben Gvir, the minister of national security, do as he pleases and attack houses in the western area [of Beit Furik] that borders the Itamar settlement."

Muhammad Rebhi Ali Shadeh, who lives in the area, told MEE that at 4am, settlers set fire to a cargo truck and attacked his house, setting another car on fire alongside a grocery.

Shadeh said that some people in the house were awake because residents have been organising sleep shifts as a security measure since 7 October.

"They began throwing large rocks at us, and I went out the house and clashed with them," he said, adding that he keeps a tank full of rocks for their protection.

"They want us to leave this country... These attacks, you can't escape them. But we're ready for them."

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attacks in a post on X, blaming the international community's "failure to halt" Israel's war on Gaza for "emboldening" settler attacks in the West Bank. 

"The international community’s glaring and unjustifiable failure to halt the ongoing war of genocide, displacement, and destruction of all facets of life in Gaza has emboldened these settler terrorist organisations to commit further crimes in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, accelerating efforts to annex the Palestinian territory and forcibly displace its residents.

"The ministry continues its efforts at all levels to expose the crimes of the occupation and its settlers and to demand that countries and the United Nations respect their obligations, and to translate them into practical steps to pressure the occupying state."

The ministry further called for "broadening existing sanctions on settler militias to encompass the entire colonial settlement infrastructure".

Clips and pictures show Palestinians inspecting extensive damage left in the wake of the settler attacks, with property left charred, and in some cases, completely destroyed. 

Rising settler violence

For years, settler violence has been a worrying phenomenon in the occupied West Bank, where large swathes of territory are under Israeli civil and military control.

But since the war on Gaza erupted, land seizures and violent attacks aimed at forcing Palestinians to abandon their homes have spiked. The attacks have coincided with sweeping movement restrictions that have seen Palestinians denied access to cities, towns and villages.

The area of Beit Furik had already been invaded by Israeli settlers last month, with soldiers blocking roads surrounding the town and standing by during the settlers' attack, according to local media.

Meanwhile, Huwwara has seen regular rampages by settlers, who earlier this year set fire to vehicles and lit bonfires in the town.

The area was also the epicentre of a violent settler attack in February of last year, during which one Palestinian man was killed and around 400 people were wounded. The assault left cars, buildings and scrapyards burned to the ground.

A report from the International Crisis Group in September found that there had been 1,000 settler attacks since October 2023, which have led to 1,300 Palestinians being forced out of their homes.

Several countries, including the United States, France, Britain, Canada and Australia, have recently imposed sanctions against extremist settlers.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in August that Israeli settlers were endangering "any chance of peace" and called on the Israeli government to "stop these unacceptable actions immediately."