Israeli forces seal West Bank village for more than 20 hours as settler violence escalates
Israeli forces have shut the only entrance to the occupied West Bank village of al-Mughayyir for more than 20 consecutive hours, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Israeli forces also raided the village on Friday, accompanied by armed settlers who attacked the residents and attempted to steal herds of sheep.
Citing local reports, Haaretz said the settlers stole 15 lambs, while one sheep was found wounded.
Three Palestinians were wounded, one due to live fire and the other two after being beaten by settlers. The settlers and Israeli forces blocked an ambulance from reaching them.
Amin Abu Aliya, head of the village council, told Wafa that the gate had been opened only for a few minutes at a time.
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He said the aim behind controlling the entry of the residents was to drive Palestinians away from the area.
Abu Aliya’s concerns come as the Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry on Saturday called for the international community to intervene to help the residents of al-Mughayyir amid rising settler violence across the occupied West Bank.
Officials described the siege on al-Mughayyir, which includes the random targeting of civilians, as part of a systematic campaign to eradicate the Palestinian presence in the area.
The ministry said these actions were part of a deliberate policy of "killing, terrorism and forced displacement", warning against Israel's "invocation of displacement and extermination policies".
A similar incident also took place in the West Bank village of Qusra, near Nablus.
Earlier this month, Israeli settlers began a siege on three homes in the Ras al-Ain area of Qusra, imprisoning several Palestinian families inside.
The ongoing siege has severed the residents' access to necessities, including water, electricity and food supplies.
A gate has been installed by the Israeli military at Qusra's main entrance, forcing Palestinians travelling into the village to navigate alternative routes that soldiers frequently obstruct.
And on Wednesday, the army erected three new roadblocks encircling the top of the Ras al-Ain hill, physically disconnecting the besieged homes from the lower areas of the village.
Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian homes, businesses and farmland in the occupied West Bank have been a systemic issue for decades as illegal settlements continue to expand.
However, these state-backed assaults have surged in both intensity and frequency since the outbreak of Israel's genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.
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