MSF reports intimidation of Palestinians by settlers in West Bank

ISTANBUL — Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a statement late on Monday that one of its staff members was "violently assaulted" by Israeli settlers on the evening of October 15 in a village in the southern West Bank. The group denounced what it called "increased violence, indiscriminate intimidation and insecurity" facing Palestinians across the territory.

According to MSF, the settlers attacked the colleague with a hand-sized rock launched from a slingshot during a targeted attack. He required immediate medical treatment. The injured staff member told MSF that about 20 settlers first came down from nearby hills to attack residents, and that more arrived armed with batons, rifles, stun grenades and slingshots.

MSF said the incident was not isolated. It said Palestinians in Hebron province and other parts of the West Bank had faced rising violence, intimidation and insecurity in recent months. The group said an ambulance could not reach the area because of unpaved roads. The staff member was taken by private vehicle to meet an ambulance, then treated at a clinic and later at a hospital.

MSF said the attack, the barriers to medical care and growing restrictions on Palestinian communities were "not coincidental". It described them as part of an Israeli strategy that undermines safety, restricts movement and limits access to health care.

Separately, the Al-Baidar rights organization said attacks by the Israeli army and settlers had forced 20 Palestinian families to leave the Ras al-Ahmar Bedouin community in the northern Jordan Valley. It said another 27 families in the community had been threatened with displacement by Friday. Al-Baidar also said restrictions on water and animal feed were worsening conditions for residents, many of whom depend on livestock for income. The source did not give a date for the displacement.

Background

According to the source, attacks by the Israeli army and settlers against Palestinians and their property have intensified across the occupied West Bank since October 2023. The source listed killings, arrests, displacement, home demolitions, land bulldozing and settlement expansion.

Official Palestinian figures cited in the report put the number of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, at around 750,000. They said these settlers live in 194 illegal settlements and roughly 400 settlement outposts.