RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL

Illegal Israeli settlers raised the US flag on Friday at a settlement outpost built on the lands of Umm Safa village, north of Ramallah in the occupied central West Bank.

Marwan Sabah, head of the village council, told Anadolu that residents were surprised in the morning to see the US flag flying over the outpost established on Jabal al-Ras, north of Umm Safa.

Sabah noted that “this is the first time the US flag has been raised at the outpost, despite the US having imposed sanctions on the settler responsible for establishing it.”

He added that illegal Israeli settlers continue to bulldoze land in the Jabal al-Ras area to expand the outpost, which they set up in mid-September 2024.

They have also placed mobile housing units there under the protection of Israeli soldiers, who prevent Palestinian landowners from accessing their property.

The incident comes as the Israeli army continues to block both main entrances to Umm Safa with an iron gate and earthen barriers since the start of the genocidal war on Gaza in Oct. 2023, forcing residents to use rough and lengthy alternative routes.

Illegal settlers and Israeli forces carried out 1,215 attacks across the occupied West Bank during September alone—490 of them by settlers, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.

Since Oct. 2023, the commission has documented 38,359 assaults by Israeli soldiers and settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank, including 7,154 attacks by illegal Israeli settlers that resulted in the deaths of 33 Palestinians.

Illegal settlers have established 114 new outposts, displacing 33 Palestinian Bedouin communities, including 455 families and 2,853 individuals, according to the commission.

In July 2025, the Israeli Knesset (parliament) voted by a majority in favor of a declaration supporting the annexation of the West Bank to Israeli sovereignty, with ministers from the major right-wing political party Likud and Knesset speaker Amir Ohana calling for immediate implementation.

However, on Sept. 26, US President Donald Trump stated that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.

According to official Palestinian figures, more than 1,050 Palestinians have been killed, around 10,300 wounded, and over 20,000 arrested, including about 1,600 children, since the onslaught against the Gaza Strip began two years ago.

Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed nearly 67,200 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it uninhabitable.