West Bank: Eight Israelis arrested after a violent attack on a Palestinian village

Israeli police announced the arrest of eight Israelis suspected of participating in an attack on a Palestinian village in the West Bank, which included the burning of houses. This operation, carried out overnight from Saturday to Sunday, comes amid escalating violence in the occupied territories.

The suspects, aged 18 to 48, were arrested after the attack on the village of Qusra in the northern West Bank. During the operation, law enforcement also seized an M-16 assault rifle, commonly used by the Israeli army. Authorities did not specify whether those arrested were settlers.

The village had already been targeted in an attack in mid-March, during which one resident was killed and two others wounded, according to Palestinian officials. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that the assailants then acted under the protection of Israeli forces, seriously wounding one man and opening fire on agricultural installations.

Such arrests are rare in this type of case, even though settler violence against Palestinians has been escalating for several years. Since the end of February, and the start of the war involving Iran, these attacks have reached an unprecedented level, generating increasing pressure on Israeli authorities, both domestically and internationally.

Some voices in Israel are now referring to this violence as a phenomenon of "Jewish terrorism." At least six Palestinians have been killed in this context since the beginning of March, while the Palestinian Foreign Minister has denounced a serious escalation, calling on the international community to respond to these repeated attacks.

The West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, is now home to more than 500,000 Israeli settlers alongside approximately 3 million Palestinians. The settlements there are considered illegal under international law, a central point of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.