Israeli army and settlers kill at least 132 Palestinians in occupied West Bank since 7 October

Israeli forces and settlers killed at least 132 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as Israel ramped up its crackdown on Palestinian communities since the weekend.  

On Monday, 30 October, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians during a raid into the Jenin refugee camp, which included an airstrike on a house in the camp.

Two of the fatal casualties were civilians, and two others were fighters from the Jenin Brigade who fought the raiding forces, according to media sources. In a statement, the Jenin Brigade mourned one of the casualties, 27-Weam Hannoun, as one of its leaders.

"We didn't sleep all night, as the raid began around 1:30 am and lasted till sunrise," Mostafa Shita, director of the Jenin Freedom Theatre, told The New Arab.

"Occupation forces seemed mainly to cause damage in the camp, as they bulldozed the streets and demolished symbolic monuments," he noted. "The occupation troops destroyed the monument of a horse, built by residents and international solidarity activists after the 2002 battle, out of pieces of an ambulance that was bombed by the occupation back then." 

1) This dawn, Israel raided #Jenin, killed 4 Palestininans, levelled infrastructure & destroyed homes & stores. This is how they destroyed the entrance of Jenin Refugee Camp. The stone is inscribed with: ‘This is a waiting station until return’. pic.twitter.com/hvNVIuZ2Qw

— Aseel AlBajeh أسيل البجة (@AseelAlBajeh) October 30, 2023

"They also destroyed a stone arch that residents had built on the camp's entrance to commemorate the Nakba and also damaged cars and shops," added Shita. "It is like they are trying to bring their anger because of what happened on 7 October against us".

On Sunday, Israeli forces killed 29-year-old Hussein Rabea during a raid into the refugee camp of Dheisheh in Bethlehem, south of the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces also arrested several Palestinians in the camp.

The occupation has been raiding Dheisheh daily since 7 October, always after midnight, leaving at least one wounded at each raid", Mohammad Abu Ayyash, a resident of Dheisheh, told TNA.

"Hussein was a simple, hard-working man, dedicated to his family and friend of everybody in the camp", Abu Ayyash said of the victim. "He worked day and night to provide for his family, especially his young child who was sick and died months ago because he didn't obtain authorisation to transfer him to a specialised hospital."

#BREAKING: A #Palestinian youth was shot in the head and killed while he was on the roof of the house when the occupation forces stormed Dheisheh camp. He remained in the place bleeding without anyone noticing his injury.

#starlinkforgaza #GazaUnderaAttack #FreePalenstine pic.twitter.com/m3Ofrn5VDT

— Wafa News Agency - English (@WAFANewsEnglish) October 29, 2023

"On Sunday, the occupation forces pushed through the alleys of Dheisheh, shooting indiscriminately, while Hussein was standing on his balcony, and he received a bullet right in the head", Abu Ayyash said.

"Another resident was on a neighbouring balcony and saw the soldiers advancing and shooting, and he took cover but didn't know that Hussein was hit", he added. "Hours later, after the soldiers left, his family went up to the balcony and found him in a pool of his blood."

On Saturday, Israeli forces killed 30-year-old Nasser Barghouthi and wounded 11 more during a raid on the town of Beit Rima, north of Jerusalem. Barghouthi was among those who confronted raiding forces with stones.

The Popular Front mourned him for the Liberation of Palestine - PFLP as one of its members. On Monday, a large crowd of Palestinians took part in Barghouthi's funeral in Beit Rima before laying him to rest.

وداع الشهيد ناصر عبد اللطيف البرغوثي ٢٩ عاما ، في بلدة بيت ريما شمال غرب رام الله .
Palestinians mourn Nasser Barghouti during his funeral in the West Bank village of Beit Rima, #issam_rimawi.https://t.co/YdcV9whlWi pic.twitter.com/3kdeY7aPtv

— Issam (@Issamrimawi) October 29, 2023

Israeli settlers also increased over the weekend, killing one Palestinian and attacking Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest in several locations in the West Bank.

On Sunday, a Palestinian farmer was killed by Israeli settlers in the village of Al-Sawiyah, south of Nablus. On Thursday, Israeli settlers attacked the village of Taybeh, east of Ramallah, and injured at least six people, including an elderly couple of farmers who were harvesting olives.

"About a dozen settlers arrived, some of them armed with rifles and pistols, and they attacked a shepherd who was alone, about 200 metres from the houses of Taybeh", an eyewitness in the location, who asked not to be named, told TNA.

"They beat him and then took his sheep, and while they were walking down the hill, an occupation army jeep came and stationed itself in the middle of the road so nobody could get close to the settlers or the sheep; while they left away", the eyewitness said.

"I was with my wife harvesting our olives near a Bedouin family's home, east of Taybeh, when a group of settlers arrived in cars", one of the victims, a resident of Taybeh, told TNA. "They got out of the car and ran to us, and they were armed."

Until this week, about 250 people lived in Khirbet Zanutah in the South Hebron Hills – a community of 27 families, including about 100 minors. Not anymore. > pic.twitter.com/4HIz9bzwOX

— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) November 1, 2023

"They fired shots to the ground around us and beat us with thick batons, on my knee and elbow, and they broke my wife's arm", he detailed. "We ran as we could to the car and drove back to the town, leaving behind the harvest and the tools".

Israeli settler attacks also increased in Masafer Yatta in the south Hebron hills, where dozens of Israeli settlers raided the village of Zannouta over the weekend. Residents told Palestinian media that settlers destroyed property, physically aggressed men and terrorised families.

On Tuesday, the head of the village council of Zannouta, Fayez Al-Tal, told Palestinian media that most of the 350 inhabitants of Zannouta have left since Monday and that only 50 people remain in the village.

Since 7 October, settler attacks against Palestinian communities have increased, especially against rural communities in the West Bank's 'Area C'.

Israeli minister Itamar Ben Gvir has openly overseen the distribution of firearms to Israeli settlers. The security committee in the Israeli Knesset reported, shortly after 7 October, that illegal Israeli settlers possess around 150.000 firearms.

Since 7 October, Israel has killed more than 9000 Palestinians, including at least 3648 children, in its bombings of the Gaza Strip.