A surge of coordinated violence and military activity swept across the occupied West Bank on Monday, as illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers carried out shootings, assaults, and large‑scale incursions into the Al‑Aqsa Mosque compound, while Israeli occupation forces conducted multiple arrests in the Hebron area.
The escalation left several Palestinians injured in separate attacks near Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Beit Ummar, deepening concerns among local communities and rights groups over the growing alignment between colonizer violence and military operations.
The incidents unfolded alongside large‑scale colonizer incursions into the Al‑Aqsa Mosque compound during the final day of the Jewish “Hanukkah” holiday.
Earlier in the day, 241 colonizers stormed the compound in coordinated groups, escorted by Israeli police and special forces, after the Palestinians were forced to leave the holy site.
Local monitors said the groups performed Talmudic rituals in several courtyards and carried out what they described as “epic prostration,” a ritual promoted by extremist Temple‑movement organizations.
Monday marked the eighth and final day of “Hanukkah,” during which thousands of colonizers were mobilized to intensify incursions into the mosque and stage provocative marches in the Old City.
In the Jerusalem area, the Jerusalem Governorate reported that three Palestinians were wounded east of the town of Anata when armed colonizers opened fire on residents of the Arab Nakhilat al‑Ka’abna community.
Witnesses said the attack occurred in the early evening as families were gathered near their homes.
Shortly afterward, Israeli occupation forces invaded both Anata and the nearby Bedouin community, deploying ground units without reporting arrests.
South of Bethlehem, a Palestinian man was injured when colonizers fired at his vehicle near the entrance to Marah Rabah village.
Hussein al‑Sheikh, head of the village council, said the victim was driving from the town of Beit Ummar when a colonizer’s vehicle approached and opened fire, shattering the car’s windows and causing injuries from flying glass.
Further south, in the Hebron district, illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers assaulted several Palestinians in the Khirbet al‑Qat area of Beit Ummar.
According to local sources, colonizers from the “Karmi Tzur” illegal colony attacked residents with clubs and rifle butts, injuring several members of the Sabarna family.
Medical teams in the town treated the victims for bruises and contusions sustained during the assault.
Israeli occupation forces also carried out a series of abductions in the same area. Local journalist Mohammad Awad reported that soldiers abducted two residents of Beit Ummar — Mahmoud Ibrahim Abdul‑Fattah Sabarneh, 47, and Ibrahim Mohammad Ibrahim Sabarneh, 30 — before transferring them to an undisclosed location.
In a related incident, the army abducted two brothers, Ammar and Ziad Jaber al‑Badawi, aged 40 and 45, at a military roadblock set up near the Nabi Younis junction in Halhul. The two men, residents of Al‑Arroub refugee camp, were also taken to an unknown destination.
Palestinian communities across the West Bank have reported a sharp escalation in colonizer violence in recent months, often carried out under the protection or direct accompaniment of Israeli forces.
Human rights groups warn that these attacks — combined with frequent military invasions and arrests — form part of a broader strategy aimed at pressuring Palestinian residents to leave their land, particularly in rural and Bedouin areas surrounding Jerusalem and the central West Bank.
Local leaders in Anata, Beit Ummar, Halhul, and Marah Rabah called for international monitoring and urgent intervention, warning that unchecked colonizer violence and military support for these groups continue to endanger civilian lives across the occupied territory.
