Israeli Settlers Attack West Bank Village, Residents Say

 Palestinians stand next to a damaged car, following an Israeli settlers' attack, near Duma in Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians stand next to a damaged car, following an Israeli settlers' attack, near Duma in Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israeli Settlers Attack West Bank Village, Residents Say

 Palestinians stand next to a damaged car, following an Israeli settlers' attack, near Duma in Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians stand next to a damaged car, following an Israeli settlers' attack, near Duma in Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)

Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian village of Khirbet al-Marjam in the occupied West Bank on Thursday night, burning three houses and a number of cars in the latest in a series of raids that have surged during the war in Gaza.

Local residents said settlers stormed through the village, firing live ammunition and hurling teargas bombs at people trying to put out the flames. CCTV footage showed masked individuals entering Palestinians' property, throwing objects around and destroying a security camera.

"They climbed on top of the house and started to throw stones," resident Maysoom Msalam said. "They broke the door and the windows. Then they burnt this door and entered and set fire inside the house."

The Israeli military said troops and police intervened to disperse a group of masked Israelis who had set property on fire. It said there had been an earlier report that Palestinians had attempted to steal a herd of animals belonging to Israelis.

Ghassan Daghlas, governor of the nearby city of Nablus, dismissed suggestions that Palestinians had provoked the attack.

"This is an attack aimed at expelling citizens from their lands by settlers, a project to displace Palestinians from their lands," he told Reuters.

"Through this attack, the settlers are telling Palestinians, either you leave, or we will burn you. The situation is very difficult, the settlers are getting more violent."

The attacks have come as Israeli ministers have been calling openly for a full annexation of the West Bank, a territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, which Palestinians see as the core of a future independent state along with Gaza and East Jerusalem.

According to figures from the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA there were at least 1,580 attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers that resulted in casualties, property damage or both last year, and another 220 since the start of this year.

In one of the biggest recent attacks, Bedouin families in the Jordan Valley, said bands of Israeli settlers stole hundreds of sheep and goats last week, having first accused the Bedouin of trying to steal their animals.

Most countries consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal, a position rejected by Israel, which cites the Jewish people's historical and Biblical connection to the land.



Israel Says Two Hezbollah Members Hit in South Lebanon Airstrike

This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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Israel Says Two Hezbollah Members Hit in South Lebanon Airstrike

This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

The Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike in southern Lebanon on Monday targeting two Hezbollah members, with Lebanese health authorities reporting one person killed and three wounded.

It was the latest in a series of deadly strikes in the area despite a ceasefire agreement that took effect in November after more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

"A short while ago, two Hezbollah terrorists who served as observation operatives and directed terrorist activities were struck by the (military) in the area of Yohmor in southern Lebanon," the army said in a statement.

The Lebanese health ministry's emergency unit said the "Israeli airstrike on a van in the village of Yohmor... led to one death", according to the official National News Agency (NNA), adding that three other people were wounded.

The agency reported that an Israeli drone had targeted a motorcycle with two riders, but a passing van was also hit by shrapnel, and "fires erupted in it" and a nearby shop.

The attack came a day after NNA and the health ministry reported four deaths in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday that the military had targeted the south Lebanon town of Ainata after "a stray bullet from a Hezbollah operative's funeral" hit the windshield of a vehicle in the northern Israeli community of Avivim.

"We will not allow shooting from Lebanese territory toward northern communities -- we will respond strongly to any violation of the ceasefire," Katz said.

Israel's military also said "a gunshot hit a parked vehicle in the area of Avivim. No injuries were reported. The shot most likely originated from Lebanese territory."

NNA cited the health ministry as saying that the strike on Ainata "led to the death of two people", after reporting earlier fatalities in Israeli strikes on Mais al-Jabal and Bint Jbeil, also in south Lebanon.

The November 27 truce largely halted the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, which included two months of open war in which Israel sent in ground troops.

But Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory since the agreement took effect.

Under the agreement, Israel had been expected to withdraw from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops at five locations it deems "strategic".

The ceasefire also required Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.