Dozens of Israeli settlers launched arson attacks targeting a Palestinian warehouse, a Bedouin village, and farmland in the north of the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.
Several Palestinians were injured.
The incidents were the latest in a recent surge in settler violence coinciding with the olive harvest season, when Palestinians head to their agricultural land around towns and villages.
It comes just after the UN's humanitarian office reported that the number of violent attacks by settlers last month was the highest since it began collecting figures nearly 20 years ago.
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land Palestinians seek for a hoped-for future state - during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.
The settlements are illegal under international law.
Footage from Tuesday shows dozens of masked men on a hillside east of Tulkarm. A Palestinian warehouse in Beit Lid was attacked, with lorries set on fire.
Tents can be seen ablaze in the Bedouin village of Deir Sharaf, with the sound of women shouting in the background.
Palestinian Authority Minister Muayyad Shaaban stated these attacks were part of a campaign to create a 'hostile environment through intimidation and terror'.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that troops responded to the incident, utilizing riot dispersal methods and apprehending several Israeli civilians. However, as soldiers attempted to manage the situation, they faced aggression from settlers, damaging an IDF vehicle.
Israeli police confirmed the arrest of four suspects in connection to the attacks.
In a post on X, Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the violence, attributing it to 'a handful of violent and dangerous individuals' whose actions cross a critical line.
The IDF Central Command head, Major-General Avi Bluth, echoed these sentiments, emphasizing that such violence undermines the region's security and stability.
The widespread violence noted on Tuesday contrasts sharply with previous instances of government inaction regarding settler violence, which has surged dramatically following the recent Hamas-led attacks causing the ongoing Gaza conflict.
In parallel, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that October saw over 260 Israeli settler attacks resulting in casualties and property damage—averaging eight incidents per day—and the highest violence against Palestinian olive harvesters recorded in years.
Palestinians have frequently accused the IDF of collusion or negligence regarding the protection of settlers against Palestinians. Recent examples include an attack during the olive harvest in which 13-year-old Aysam Mualla suffered severe injury from IDF tear gas and succumbed to complications.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's policies have prioritized expanding settlements and further land seizure, a move seen by many observers as an attempt to de facto annex the West Bank.
