Israeli settlers attack military forces trying to clear West Bank outpost

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said masked Israeli settlers attacked its forces who were attempting to evacuate an illegal outpost in the West Bank on Wednesday.

Settlers hurled an explosive at a vehicle belonging to the military body in charge of civilian affairs in the West Bank, leaving its dashboard cracked, the army said.

The military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said the episode was “a severe, violent incident, that must be denounced and condemned,” calling for the “rioters” to face legal repercussions.

Israeli media reported that the settlers had clashed with Israeli forces late into the night Tuesday, burning tires and hurling stones at the officers.

The military and border police were trying to evacuate the Oz Zion outpost in the northern West Bank, which was established illegally in 2021. Outposts are small structures built without authorization from the Israeli government.

Israel has built well over 100 settlements across the West Bank, some of which resemble fully developed suburbs or small towns. They are home to more than 500,000 Jewish settlers who have Israeli citizenship.

The Israeli settlement tracking group Peace Now said Wednesday that authorities recently approved the appropriation of nearly 5 square miles of land in the Jordan Valley. The group’s data indicate it was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords at the start of the peace process.

The land seizure, which was approved late last month but only publicized on Wednesday, comes after the seizure of roughly 3 square miles of land in the West Bank in March and 1 square mile in February.

The international community largely views all settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when asked for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ reaction to the latest land seizure, said: “Frankly, it’s a step in the wrong direction — and the direction we want to be heading is to find a negotiated two-state solution.”

Palestinian health officials say four Palestinians were killed by an Israeli airstrike in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank late Tuesday.

Israel’s military said an aircraft struck a group of terrorists who were planting explosives in the area of Nur Shams, an urban refugee camp near the city of Tulkarem. The camp has been a frequent target of the Israeli forces and is known as a terrorist stronghold.

Early Wednesday, the Palestinian Health Ministry released the four men’s names and ages, ranging from 20-25 years old. Local news outlets published photos reportedly showing two of the men holding assault rifles and one wearing a combat vest, indicating they were terrorists. No groups immediately claimed them as members.

Israel has been operating in Nur Shams for the past week. An Israeli soldier was killed by a roadside explosion in the camp on Monday, the military said.

Meanwhile, a group of Israeli settlers returned to the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair in the southern West Bank on Wednesday, cutting the village’s water pipes and leaving some 200 Palestinians there without access to water.

It was the fourth settler assault on the village in the past week and comes days after a quarter of the village was left homeless when Israeli authorities demolished their homes.

One video obtained by The Associated Press from a local resident showed a group of about five settlers tampering with the village’s water pipe, the water spilling out onto the ground. In another video, two Israeli soldiers look on as the settlers cluster around the pipe.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

International and Israeli activists have flocked to the village in an attempt to protect the Palestinians there, but it has not stopped near-daily settler onslaughts.