West Bank settlers attack AFP journalists

Israeli settlers in the West Bank attacked AFP journalists reporting on tension with Palestinians, resulting in at least five people being injured. A team of three journalists from the international news agency traveled to the village of Jannatah near Bethlehem to cover the story. After an altercation between settlers and activists, Israeli military forces ordered the journalists to leave, claiming it as a closed military zone.

As the journalists were being evacuated, two additional cars full of settlers entered the scene. The settlers, many of them children, threw stones at the journalists and activists. One AFP journalist was struck by a stone but managed to duck, but later a child settler hit him with a stick, causing minor bleeding. The damaged vehicles, with smashed windshields and punctured tires, were seen by the journalists upon their return.

The injured were treated by the Palestine Red Crescent Society. Over half a million Israelis reside in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967, housing around three million Palestinians. The right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been advancing more construction projects ahead of the upcoming October 27 elections.

Violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers has surged since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel from Gaza.