Israeli Settlers Torch West Bank Villages in Revenge Campaign
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- Israeli settlers carried out more than 20 attacks overnight Saturday on Palestinian villages including Jalud, Qaryut, al-Funduqmiya and Silat al-Dhah, after 18-year-old settler Yehuda Sherman was killed — reportedly struck by a Palestinian-driven vehicle while riding his quad bike.
- WhatsApp groups used by settlers called for a "revenge campaign" following Sherman's death, with footage (unverified by the BBC) showing more than 90 masked individuals in black running into Jalud, vehicles on fire, buildings with smashed windows, and "Avenge Yehuda" spray-painted onto a structure.
- The United Nations reports six Palestinians have been killed by settlers since 1 March, and that 15 of the year's combined Palestinian killings by settlers and Israeli forces have occurred since the Iran war started on 28 February.
- The IDF said troops and border police were dispatched to several villages after reports of arson, but Israeli civil rights group Yesh Din described the attacks as "a night of pogroms" and accused forces of failing to implement "preventive measures" despite "prior knowledge of the planned attacks."
- Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance minister who has been sanctioned by the UK for inciting violence against Palestinians, attended Sherman's funeral alongside more than 500 mourners.
- Yair Golan, leader of Israel's centre-left Democrats party, accused the government of encouraging "total anarchy" and "Jewish terrorism," writing on X that the violence spreads "with the backing of extremist ministers and dangerous encouragement from the prime minister and the defence minister."
- Israeli police arrested five individuals near the village of Deir al-Hatab and said one officer was injured when civilians attacked security forces near the Itamar settlement, adding that police are operating "with zero tolerance toward extremist violent individuals."
Why it matters: The UN documents 25 Palestinian deaths by settlers and Israeli forces this year — 15 of them concentrated in the roughly two months since the 28 February start of the Iran war — showing the regional conflict is amplifying rather than distracting from settler campaigns. The presence of UK-sanctioned minister Smotrich at the trigger funeral, and Yesh Din's claim that security forces had prior knowledge and still failed to intervene, point to a deliberate security vacuum around Palestinian communities during wartime.
