West Bank: On track to a collision?

Despite the scorching mid-day sun, the desolate hilltop settlement outpost of Evyatar in the occupied West Bank was buzzing with settlers and families with young children. Some were moving old furniture around, while others received a truck delivering new mattresses.

The mood was defiant and somber — funerals for the victims of a Palestinian shooting attack in the nearby settlement of Eli had just got underway.

"Four Jews were killed by Arab terrorists very close to here, so we, the families of Evyatar decided to come here to the land that was promised to us. We came back today to live here,” explained Ayelet Schlissel, a spokesperson for the outpost, to DW.

Although the outpost was cleared by the former Netanyahu administration in 2021, houses were left standing. Pressure to resettle the hilltop outpost in the central West Bank has, however, been ongoing. Following the recent shooting, buses were organized late Tuesday night to bring people to the outpost.

More settlements for more protection

Earlier on Tuesday evening, two Palestinian gunmen armed with M16 rifles killed four Israelis, among them a 17-year-old, and wounded another four at a petrol station at the entrance to the settlement of Eli.

While one Palestinian attacker was killed at the scene, the second fled but was killed later by Israeli forces. Both were affiliated with the militant group Hamas.

For most people here in Evyatar, building more settlements is the answer to such attacks. "We are here because Jewish people were killed. We need to settle everywhere. And the government promised us two years ago that we will re-establish the place here,” Haim Amichai, who studies in the settlement of Kiryat Arba in the southern West Bank, told DW.

Under international law, settlements are considered illegal, although Israel disputes this. "There needs to be a military operation and we need to settle in every spot in Judea and Samaria,” Evyatar spokesperson Schlissel added, using biblical names to refer to the West Bank.

Since last year, following a spate of deadly attacks by Palestinian or Israeli-Arab militants, the Israeli military has been engaged in almost daily raids in Palestinian towns and cities, mainly in the northern West Bank.

However, several hardline pro-settler ministers in the Israeli government are now pushing for wider military operations. After Tuesday's shooting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in a video statement that "all options are open,” adding that "anyone who harms us, is either in prison or in a grave. This will also be the case here.”

The attack in Eli was preceded on Monday by a deadly raid carried out by the Israeli military on the outskirts of the Palestinian city of Jenin. Seven Palestinians were killed, among them militants and civilians, including two 15-year-olds. In all, over 90 people were injured, some critically, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Seven Israeli army and border police officers were also injured when the military convoy ran into a massive roadside bomb. It took hours for the military to extract their forces amid a heavy exchange of fire with Palestinian militants, which included the rare use of combat helicopters.

Settlers rampage through Palestinian villages

The rapid deterioration following the latest developments is heightening concerns that the occupied West Bank could be hit by an even more deadly bout of violence. Since the shooting in Eli, settlers have been rioting and going on rampages through Palestinian villages across the West Bank.

After the funerals of the Israeli victims on Wednesday, several hundred Israeli settlers stormed into the Palestinian town of Turmus Ayya, setting fire to dozens of cars, homes and trees in an apparent revenge attack.

At the Shalaby family's house, angry mobs torched three cars parked in the courtyard. The fireball blackened parts of the upper floor of their house and windows shattered. A day later, the family is still shaken as neighbors visit them to show their support.

"It was just terrible, it was scary. They even tried to get into the house,” says Fahmieh Shalaby to DW, who sought refuge on the second floor with her grandchildren, who were visiting from the United States. 

"We need protection from the settlers. We have nothing to do with the shooting in Eli, the kids have nothing to do with it. A person was killed here, why did they come to our village?” said her daughter Eman Shalaby, a dual US-Palestinian citizen.

According to Turmus Ayya's mayor, some 30 houses and dozens of cars were partly or totally burned when the settlers descended on the town from nearby hills. A 27-year-old Palestinian man was killed by live fire in unclear circumstances, and several people were injured, according to Palestinian health services.

Many feel the army was slow to take action. "I feel enraged. They [settlers] did whatever they wanted, they [army] let them roam, they were roaming in the streets of the village, with guns and with rocks; with everything. The army came maybe an hour later,” says Eman Shalaby.

 In a briefing to reporters, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that the events in the village were a "nationalist crime" that should have been prevented and that "we failed to prevent it."

An earlier statement by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said it "condemns these serious incidents of violence and destruction of property," adding that it "prevents the IDF and security forces from focusing on their main mission — maintaining the security of the State of Israel and preventing terrorism."

More settler violence in different locations across the West Bank has been reported throughout the week. The Palestinian Authority has only limited authority over small areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Attacks by violent settlers sparked international concern, following a particularly violent rampage in the Palestinian town of Hawara in February this year.

Prime Minister Netanyahu appeared to condemn the violence by stating that "we are a nation of law.” However, he also announced plans to advance 1,000 new housing units in the settlement of Eli in a joint statement with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who was just recently handed enhanced powers to advance settlements in the West Bank.

Then, at nightfall on Wednesday, a rare Israeli drone strike killed three Palestinian militants in a car near Jalameh checkpoint. While surveillance drones are commonly used in Gaza and the West Bank, the strike marked the first targeted killings by drone in the West Bank since 2006.

Edited by: Lucy James