The attacks mark a sharp rise in settler violence against Palestinians, their homes and livelihoods in recent weeks.
Israeli settlers have carried out attacks in several parts of the occupied West Bank, seizing or destroying Palestinian homes and damaging essential utilities such as water sources, electricity lines and greenhouses. Violent attacks and land seizures have increased in recent weeks.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported on Friday, citing Palestinian security sources, that Israeli settlers damaged the main electricity line supplying the village of al-Maniya, southeast of Bethlehem.
The settlers reportedly destroyed the power line and cut off the community's electricity supply, causing fear and panic among residents. This was the second such incident in the village this week.
Hours later, Israeli settlers destroyed agricultural greenhouses near the Shufa military checkpoint southeast of Tulkarm, local witnesses told Wafa. They added that the settlers tore up the nets protecting the greenhouses, causing damage to agricultural facilities owned by a local family.
Also on Friday, Wafa reported that Israeli settlers took control of the Ein Rawabi spring, northeast of Jerusalem, after vandalizing the area earlier in the day. The attack targeted a vital water source that Bedouin communities in the area rely on.
The Jerusalem governorate said in a statement that the spring is the only source of water for local shepherds and their herd of about 1,300 sheep. The governorate warned that seizing the spring poses a direct threat to the livelihoods of dozens of Bedouin families.
Meanwhile, Israeli settlers seized Mohammad Salameh's property in the village of Jalud in the occupied West Bank while he was building a home for his recently engaged son, Reuters news agency reported on Friday.
Salameh said her appeals to Israeli authorities have been unsuccessful. She has lost her home and fears the same fate awaits her Palestinian neighbors, who are increasingly surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements and outposts.
„If there was law and order, they [the Israeli settlers] would leave,” Salameh told Reuters. „But if they manage to take one, the rest will follow.”
According to Wafa, attacks by Israeli settlers have increased in recent weeks, including raids on homes and attempts to run over Palestinians with vehicles.
The attacks mark an increase in Israeli settler violence against Palestinian villages, which has a direct impact on the livelihoods of the population.
The occupied West Bank is home to about 500,000 Israelis and some 3 million Palestinians. For years, Palestinians have reported vandalism, damage to agricultural land and attacks linked to settlement expansion.
A UN investigation reported last month that attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages and agricultural lands had increased by 130 percent since 2023.
