According to the Israeli media, settlers have targeted the commander of the Binyamin regional military base, in the center of the West Bank, which they treated as “traitor”.
Several dozen Israelis gathered in the night in front of a military base in occupied West Bank, where some of them attacked the security forces and vandalized vehicles and a military installation, the army announced on Monday. According to Israeli media, settlers have notably targeted the commander of the Binyamin regional military base, in the center of the West Bank, which they treated as “traitor”.
This commander is part of a group of soldiers attacked on the night of Friday to Saturday after opposing settlers who headed for the Palestinian village of Kafr Malek, where three Palestinians had been killed Wednesday by settlers, according to the Palestinian authority.
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“Acts of violence could cause disaster”: the Israeli army attacked by settlers in the West Bank
A vandalized security site
Following the violence of the night from Friday to Saturday, six Israeli civilians were arrested. It was in retaliation for these arrests, according to the media, that settlers again gathered on the night of Sunday to Monday. “Dozens of Israeli civilians have gathered (…) Some attacking the security forces, spraying them with tear gas and vandalizing military vehicles”said the army in a statement.
“The army, the police and the border guards intervened to disperse the regrouping”adds the text, specifying that an Israeli citizen had been injured. A few hours later, the army said that “Israeli civilians have launched and vandalized a security site containing systems that help to thwart terrorist attacks in the Binyamin regional brigade area”. The Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Saar condemned “Firmly all violence” against the army and the security forces and added that “The offenders must be severely punished”.
A “red line” crosses
The Minister of Farm Finance, Betsalel Smotrich, favorable to colonization and the annexation of the West Bank, condemned “Violence against Israeli soldiers and police (…) as well as the degradation of goods”believing that a “Red line” had been crossed. He called on the police “To translate those responsible into justice”. Several human rights NGOs denounce the rise in violence committed by settlers in the West Bank and the impunity from which they benefit.
The violence has soared in this Palestinian territory, occupied by Israel since 1967, since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by the attack on the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023. About three million Palestinians live in the West Bank alongside almost half a million Israelis settled in colonies considered illegal by international law.
