Israel-Gaza latest: Netanyahu issues defiant comments after Biden warning – as world awaits Rafah decision and Palestinians flee | WorldNews

Last month, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported on at least 485 people had been killed and 4,900 others injured in attacks by Israeli army forces and illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank since last October.

A ministry statement said more than 340 attacks were reported on healthcare facilities and workers in the occupied territory during the same period.

Hamas, which carried out the 7 October attacks, is not in charge in the West Bank and no hostings are being held there.

There are regular clashes and riots in the West Bank aggravated by Israeli settlers both threatening and inflicting violence on Palestinians if they do not give up their land – which has been condemned by even the strongest international supporters of Israel, like the US.

A report from The Associated Press this morning reveals the depth of despair and helplessness felt by Palestinians in the territory in the face of this violence.

It details charred homes and cars dotting the hilltop village of Duma.

The head of the village council said the trail of wreckage along Duma’s main road was the aftermath of a three-hour attack in mid-April that left 15 homes damaged by arson and six residents injured by bullets.

It was one of nearly 800 settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since Hamas attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October, according to the UN.

The burned remains in Duma also highlight the village’s limited resources to clean up and rebuild, let alone defend themselves from future incursions, which seem inevitable as gun-toting settlers patrol the area roughly 20 miles north of Jerusalem.

“We as the village of Duma … do not have the power to defend ourselves,” said Suleiman Dawabsha, chairman of the village council for this community of more than 2,000 people.

The rampage on April 13 echoed a similar event that took place almost a decade ago. In 2015, three Palestinians from Duma were killed, including an 18-month-old baby, after settlers fire-bombed a home there.

Of the nearly 500 Palestinians been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank, according to the health ministry based in Ramallah, rhe overwhelming majority have been shot dead by soldiers.

Palestinians in the West Bank have killed nine Israelis, including five soldiers, since October 7, according to UN data.

Israeli human rights groups blame the far-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for fueling settler violence by promoting an ideology of total Israeli supremacy in the West Bank.

These groups say the Israeli army doesn’t do enough to stop the violence, and even facilitates it in some cases by offering the settlers protection.

The Israeli army said in a statement it tries to protect everyone living in the West Bank and that complaints about soldiers are investigated.

In Duma, Ibrahim Dawabsha, a truck driver and father of four, said most of his family hid in the kitchen as settlers launched firebombs and set part of their home ablaze.

“My daughter was at her uncle’s house, there was no one there,” he said.

“What they (might) do to her I don’t know.”