Thousands of illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers, accompanied by large numbers of occupation soldiers and government officials, invaded the Joseph’s Tomb area east of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank’s northern area, before dawn on Wednesday.
Palestinian security sources reported that the Israeli army invaded the eastern part of the city, deployed across several neighborhoods, and occupied the rooftops of residential homes to secure the colonizers’ arrival.
The sources added that more than five thousand colonizers entered the site, among them the extremist Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and several members of the Israeli Knesset, while the army closed multiple military roadblocks surrounding the city and restricted the movement of Palestinian residents throughout the night.
◀️ وزير المالية الإسرائيلي سموتريتش وقادة المستوطنين يقتحمون “قبر يوسف” شرق نابلس تحت حماية مشددة من جيش الاحتلال pic.twitter.com/seOowasPWe
— Ultra Palestine – الترا فلسطين (@palestineultra) May 13, 2026
The colonizers spray‑painted racist slogans on the walls of the nearby Qadri Touqan Secondary School for Boys, located close to the site.
The presence of senior Israeli officials during these incursions has become increasingly common, and Palestinian communities view it as direct political encouragement for colonizer groups that have escalated their attacks across the occupied West Bank.
Over the past year, colonizer violence has sharply intensified, with repeated assaults on Palestinian towns, the burning of homes and vehicles, destruction of agricultural land, and the establishment of new outposts under the protection of the occupation army.
Human rights organizations and UN agencies have warned that public support from Israeli ministers and lawmakers contributes to a climate of impunity that enables further attacks on Palestinian civilians.
Joseph’s Tomb has long been used as a pretext for large‑scale military invasions into Nablus, despite being located inside Area A, which is nominally under Palestinian civil and security control.
Each time colonizer groups enter the site, the army carries out a full military operation, deploying armored vehicles, firing live ammunition and tear gas in surrounding neighborhoods, and imposing movement restrictions on tens of thousands of residents.
These invasions frequently result in injuries, property damage, and the disruption of daily life for Palestinian families living near the area.
In a separate incident, Israeli occupation forces abducted the young man Luay Lebda after invading his home in the Khallet al‑Amoud neighborhood of Nablus.
The abduction took place during the same hours as the colonizer incursion, as the army expanded its presence across the city and intensified its operations in several residential areas.
The events of Wednesday reflect the ongoing escalation of colonizer attacks across the occupied West Bank, where Israeli government officials continue to participate in and publicly endorse colonizer activities.
Palestinian residents and rights groups warn that these actions further entrench a system of state‑backed violence that threatens communities throughout the region and deepens the instability created by the military occupation.
Joseph Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Samaritans revere the patriarch alike, however, the Israeli military allows Jews to visit as part of organized pilgrimages, despite the site being in Area A where the PA has full control and prohibits Muslims from worshiping at the site.
Ultra-orthodox and nationalist Jews constantly try to visit the shrine without approval, as many Jews believe the tomb to be the final resting place of the biblical figure in the Old Testament.
Palestinians believe that Joseph’s Tomb is the funerary monument to Sheikh Yousif Dweikat, a local religious figure.
