Israeli settler attacks fuel the fire as the Gaza war rages.

Mohammed Wadi, a West Bank villager who grows olives, said that armed Israeli settlers from outposts overlooking it no longer aim low when they shoot at Palestinian neighbors. Wadi is grieving the deaths of his father and brother. He responded, “Now, they shoot to kill.”

After Israel launched a new war in the isolated enclave of Gaza in response to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas launching the bloodiest day in Israel’s history on October 7, violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank—which was already at a 15-year high this year—tolerated even further.

According to two Reuters witnesses and three other people present, armed Israeli settlers and troops stopped a funeral procession for three additional Palestinians who had died the day before at the hands of settlers on October 12. Wadi’s father and brother were shot dead as a result. Since the Hamas rampage, the U.N. has reported more than 170 settler assaults against Palestinians.

Jews and Arabs used to hurl stones at one another. In the olive-growing town of Qusra, 29-year-old Wadi stated, “Settlers my age now all seem to have automatic weapons.” Furthermore, he added that more and more shootings were fatal, as opposed to ten years before when armed settlers would shoot natives in an attempt to frighten or hurt them.

Who fired the Wadis remained a mystery to Reuters. Three further witnesses corroborated Palestinian officials’ assessment that the shooting looked to originate from settlers rather than troops during the funeral massacre.

Shira Liebman, the head of the Yesha Council, the main organization representing settlers in the West Bank, told Reuters that immigrants were not to blame for the deaths and were not intending to harm Palestinians.

Hard-right Israel At least two prominent government officials reside in the settlements, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who stated he had ordered 10,000 weapons to be purchased to equip Israeli people, including settlers, following the Hamas attack.

When asked if firearms had already been supplied in the West Bank, Ben-Gvir’s administration could not answer. On October 11, he tweeted that 900 assault rifles had been provided in locations near Lebanon, to the north of the West Bank, and hundreds more would be going soon.

The U.N. Humanitarian Affairs Office, or OCHA, reports that 29 individuals have died as a result of vigilante-style settler attacks this year. Ordinary Palestinians, Israeli security specialists, and Western officials are concerned about the minimum of eight of those that have occurred since October 7.

Attacks by settlers in the West Bank have drawn criticism from Washington. On Tuesday, the European Union denounced “settler terrorism,” which it said may lead to a “dangerous escalation of the conflict.”

Since Hamas, which rules the coastal enclave of Gaza to Israel’s southwest, killed 1,400 Israelis and kidnapped over 200 more, the number of daily settler attacks has more than quadrupled, according to U.N. estimates. Since then, approximately 9,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli bombs and invasions of Gaza.

While Hamas maintains tight control over the troubled Gaza region, an intricate network of hillside cities, Israeli settlements, and army checkpoints divide Palestinian towns in the West Bank.

When launching its murderous rampage, Hamas highlighted Israeli operations in the West Bank, which is essential to a future Palestinian state.

DEATHS BY FUNERAL
It was the responsibility of Mohammed’s father Ibrahim and brother Ahmed to welcome the funeral procession returning with the remains from a neighboring hospital after Israelis killed three Palestinians on October 11 at an olive grove close to Qusra, he claimed.

According to the five witnesses, the armed settlers stopped the parade at a roadside in front of uniformed troops, shooting Wadi’s father in the chest and his brother in the neck and chest.

“It was gunfire from settlers,” stated Abdullah Abu Rahma, a member of the Settlement and Wall Resistance Commission under the Palestinian government.

The Israeli military said that it attempted to diffuse the day’s skirmishes between Israelis and Palestinians and that the event was being looked into. According to a local Hebrew-language social media group supporting settler activists, the Israeli soldiers opened fire on the Wadis. However, settlement administrator Liebman denied any involvement by settlers in the deaths.

“We have committed bloody terrorist assaults in excess. Following the Hamas assault, Israelis have been deeply concerned about security. “We are up against an enemy that seeks to destroy us,” settlement leader Liebman told Reuters.

Liebman said that “local security teams” had the tools necessary to defend Jewish neighborhoods. Palestinians in the West Bank, especially in regions where the Islamist organization has not historically been prominent, have shown a noticeable increase in support for Hamas after the October 7 attack.

Approximately 200 Palestinians and 26 Israelis have died this year, making it the bloodiest for West Bank inhabitants in at least 15 years, according to U.N. figures. However, another 121 West Bank Palestinians have lost their lives in the three weeks following the strike on October 7.

Most deaths have been from clashes with troops. Nonetheless, commentators warn that Palestinian dissatisfaction has the potential to turn into more violent action due to the activities of Israeli radicals.

According to the Israeli military, its goal is to defuse the situation and safeguard people in Palestine. Here, security is harmed. To a question from Reuters regarding settler attacks, a spokeswoman replied, “These incidents create more clashes, and it’s people who have taken the law into their own hands.”

“GREAT DAMAGING”
Israeli security experts argue that with the current Gaza conflict and the increased influence of far-right parties, it is becoming more challenging to quell settler-related violence.

Lior Akerman, a former Shin Bet internal security service officer in Israel, stated that “extreme right activists in the West Bank pose a great danger.”

He claimed that in Gaza and northern Israel, where forces are engaged in combat with Hezbollah in Lebanon, settlers are taking advantage of this situation to launch unrestricted attacks. Since the army is considerably preoccupied today, the immigrants can operate.

“They also receive support from representatives of the government, which makes it difficult for security organizations,” he said.

Ben-Gvir was among the radical right-wing ministers chosen by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his cabinet in an attempt to win a second term last year.

“Sporadic Palestinian terrorism (in the West Bank) is what makes things more difficult to keep under control,” stated a senior Israeli government official who wished to remain anonymous.

The defense ministry this week placed Ariel Danino, a well-known settler activist, under administrative arrest for reasons of state security. This measure is often taken against Palestinian activists and is a hint that the settler events concern the Israeli security establishment.

ALLOW US GUNS
Wadi’s family is actively involved in the neighborhood. He claims the family has observed the rise in settler hostility and shuns violent action.

He keeps an eye on settler and army violence on behalf of a Palestinian government agency.

Wadi claimed that Ibrahim, his father, suffered hatred from extreme settlers because he tried to mediate disputes between Palestinian and Israeli officials to prevent bloodshed.

Akerman asserts that there’s a chance that settler groups’ violence will inspire additional Palestinian militants to join the fight in the West Bank. One, The Lion’s Den, called for Tuesday’s attacks on Israel.

According to a Reuters witness, Palestinian gunmen watched the burial that was held on October 12 after the Wadis were slain. They appeared to be looking for any acts of violence by the Israeli community.

There hasn’t been much progress thus far as the Israeli military arrests hundreds of individuals and restricts Palestinian mobility throughout the West Bank.

Wadi searched his phone for death threats against Palestinians in the area on Hebrew-language social media platforms last week while sitting beneath a sign honoring his father and brother in Qusra.

He claimed to feel encircled. In Qusra’s opposite, two settlements are perched on hills above the village’s olive orchards, and a massive wall surrounds a fortress-like community.

Abdullah, a local who only revealed his first name, was even more angry. “I’m ready to take up a firearm. “I wish someone would provide us with some,” he remarked.