Medics among six Palestinians injured in Israeli attacks across West Bank

Israeli forces and settlers have injured six Palestinians, including two paramedics, in a series of attacks across the occupied West Bank governorates of Nablus and Bethlehem, according to authorities.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said its crews treated a man beaten by Israeli forces in Beit Furik, east of Nablus, on Friday. The organisation said it was coordinating with the International Committee of the Red Cross to secure access to the man, who had been arrested following the assault.

Settlers separately vandalised a Palestinian-owned vehicle in the same town, the organisation said.

In Bethlehem, three Palestinians were wounded after settlers attacked vehicles in the Abu Njeim area. Meanwhile, an ambulance crew responding to injured people in the nearby Khalayel al-Louz area was pelted with stones, injuring two paramedics and damaging the vehicle, according to the PRCS.

The Friday attacks follow a week of Israeli military raids across the occupied West Bank, including a recent two-day operation on the Qalandiya refugee camp that injured 48 people.

Palestinian monitors have documented more than 11,000 attacks across the West Bank since January.

Since October 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 1,182 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, injured about 13,000 and arrested nearly 25,000, according to Palestinian officials.

Rights groups charge that the accelerated violence is aimed at deepening Israel’s illegal control over Palestinian towns and villages in the region.

The United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has said settlers, alongside Israeli forces, “frequently attack families, burn mosques and destroy and confiscate property”.

It said movement restrictions have become “tighter than ever”.

In late July, OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said it was imperative for countries to “bring an end to the Israeli occupation” of the West Bank.

“With attacks by Israeli settlers, and the creation of settlements and outposts hitting an all-time high, third States must act urgently and in unison to halt the continuing killing and dispossession of the Palestinian people,” she said.