More than 30 people reportedly arrested across the occupied territory, as Israel intensifies its siege.
Published On 16 Jul 2026
Several Palestinians have been injured in separate attacks across the occupied West Bank amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.
A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was shot in the chest by Israeli forces in Bani Naim, east of Hebron, on Thursday, according to Wafa. He was taken to hospital and is in a stable condition.
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Israeli settlers beat a 30-year-old man in Abu Njeim, southeast of Bethlehem. He is receiving treatment at a nearby hospital.
Elsewhere, settlers attacked several members of the same family in Khirbet Emneizal in the South Hebron Hills.
The assailants also stole the family’s sheep before Israeli forces arrived, assaulted residents and arrested seven people.
Attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have surged since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza in 2023. Critics say settlers have become emboldened by the international community’s failure to hold Israel accountable for its siege of the enclave.
Last month, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Israeli settlers had attacked Palestinians or their property six times a day on average so far this year – the highest rate on record.
Citing figures from the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office, the Anadolu news agency reported that Israeli forces arrested 32 people across the occupied West Bank on Thursday. Thirteen were in the town of Beit Ummar, north of the city of Hebron.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “deeply alarmed” by Israel granting city status to the illegal settlement of Givat Ze’ev in the occupied West Bank.
His spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told a news conference that Israel’s administrative designation “does not alter Givat Ze’ev’s legal status under international law as part of the occupied Palestinian territory”.
All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion ordering Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories “as rapidly as possible”, declaring its presence unlawful.
Although the opinion is not legally binding, it has increased pressure on Israel to abandon its expansionist policies. The court also said that other states are obliged not to recognise the occupation as lawful or aid or assist in maintaining it.
