RAMALLAH, Palestine 

Illegal Israeli settlers beat an elderly Palestinian man after abducting him for several hours Sunday and released him near the Meitar checkpoint south of Hebron in the West Bank.

Mohammad Abu Sharikh, the son of 69-year-old Hussein Abu Sharikh, told Anadolu that his father was abducted east of the town of ad-Dhahiriya in the village of Khallet al-Tayaran, where he was tending to his sheep.

“Five armed settlers accompanied by soldiers abducted my father around 6.30 p.m. (1530GMT) and took him to the Tina settlement, where he stayed for four hours and was beaten during that time,” added the son.

He noted that his father was released near the Meitar checkpoint and was then taken to a local medical center, where it was found that he had multiple bruises from the beating.

According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, settlers have carried out around 1,760 attacks since the beginning of 2024, killing nine citizens in various parts of the Palestinian territories.

At least 692 people have been killed and more than 5,700 injured by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank, according to the Health Ministry.

The escalation follows a significant ruling by the International Court of Justice on July 19 which declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories unlawful and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala