Israel detains journalists, solidarity activists in occupied West Bank
Two journalists, along with two foreign activists and a Palestinian activist, were detained in southern Hebron as they were documenting the illegal settler attacks.
Israeli forces have detained two journalists, two foreign solidarity activists and a Palestinian anti-settlement activist in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron while they were documenting attacks carried out by illegal Israeli settlers, according to local sources.
Osama Makhamera, a Palestinian activist involved in resisting settlement expansion, told Anadolu on Friday that Israeli forces stormed the Rujum al-Aala area after illegal settlers attacked residents of the Masafer Yatta region, south of Hebron.
He said the forces detained two journalists working with a foreign media outlet, along with two foreign activists and Rateb al-Jbour, coordinator of the popular and national committees opposing illegal Israeli settlement activity in southern Hebron, as they were documenting the settler assault.
Makhamera added that the detainees were taken to a nearby Israeli settlement in the area. Al-Jbour was later released, while the fate of the journalists and foreign activists remains unknown.
He said the Rujum al-Aala community has faced repeated attacks by illegal settlers, with incidents escalating in recent days.
The assaults have left residents wounded, including women and children, caused extensive damage to homes and property, destroyed crops, and prevented residents from accessing their farmland and grazing areas.
According to the Palestinian Authority’s Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, illegal settlers carried out around 4,723 attacks across the occupied West Bank in 2025, resulting in the killing of 14 Palestinians and the forced displacement of 13 Bedouin communities comprising 1,090 people.
Official Palestinian figures show that the number of illegal settlers in the West Bank reached approximately 770,000 by the end of 2024, living in more than 180 settlements and 256 settlement outposts.
Israel has intensified its assaults in the occupied West Bank and perpetrated a genocide in Gaza since October 8, 2023, including killings, arrests, forced displacement and settlement expansion, a trajectory Palestinians say is aimed at paving the way for the formal annexation of the occupied territory.
More than 1,112 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israel, about 11,500 wounded, and more than 21,000 detained during that period, according to Palestinian estimates.
The International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal in a landmark opinion in July 2024 and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.