"Night of Fire in the West Bank": coordinated attacks by settlers, security forces present but inert

 "They arrived in waves, hooded, wielding clubs and bottles of gasoline," residents recount. Just a few meters away, along the road connecting Qaryout and Jalud, ambulances were unable to pass: "There were soldiers and police, but they did not stop us or protect us," witnesses repeat. This is just one of the fragments of the long night in the West Bank, when groups of Israeli settlers struck in at least "half a dozen" locations with fires, assaults, and devastation, while units of the Israeli security forces patrolled the area without preventing the raids.

The targeted villages

From the early hours of the evening until dawn, the sequence of attacks spanned several areas: in al-Fandaqumiya and Seilat al-Dahr, south of Jenin, homes and vehicles were set ablaze; in the Masafer Yatta area (south of Hebron), injuries and arrests followed the settlers' incursion, "under the protection" of armed forces; in Qaryout and Jalud (Nablus governorate), residents report subsequent incursions conducted by about 100 hooded men, while roadblocks and stone-throwing were reported along the arteries near Haris (west of Salfit), Rawabi, and in the Tuqou area (southeast of Bethlehem). In the dead of night, around 02:00, Israeli troops and police were visible at the edges of the villages, but the attacks continued. Surveillance footage shows a large group leaving Jalud in formation, dressed in black.

The official picture: no arrests reported

An Israeli military spokesperson acknowledged "episodes of Israeli citizens involved in acts of arson against structures and property" and "turbulence" in various areas of the West Bank. Yet, at this time, there are no reported arrests or publicly announced investigations into the assaults of the night. It is a recurring dynamic: during the same hours, the AP agency documented burned vehicles, broken windows, and several injuries in Palestinian villages, with the army speaking of a response to "disturbances" but not indicating immediate measures against the attackers.

The context: Eid al-Fitr and the bloodshed of the previous days

The night of violence coincided with the festivities of Eid al‑Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, and was rooted in an escalation of weeks: raids, clashes, and assaults have particularly concentrated around Nablus, Hebron, and the Jordan Valley. On March 15, 2026, in the town of Tammun, Israeli soldiers opened fire on a family car, killing four people — Ali Bani Odeh and his wife Waad, along with their children Othman (6 years old) and Mohammad (5) — an incident that B’Tselem described as "very serious" and on which the army and police claimed the vehicle was "accelerating towards the forces" during an operation: two children survived with shrapnel wounds. This sequence, occurring exactly one week after the mass raids, has become a symbol of the perceived sense of impunity.