NABLUS, Palestine

Illegal Israeli settlers on Friday set fire to Palestinian agricultural lands near Nablus city in the occupied West Bank, reducing grain crops and olive trees to ashes.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that a group of illegal Israeli settlers deliberately set fire to fields in the town of Bayt Furik, east of Nablus city.

The flames engulfed a large area of grain crops and olive trees, despite Palestinians’ efforts to extinguish them, the witnesses said.

Separately, illegal Israeli settlers in the southern West Bank damaged Palestinian crops by grazing their sheep among the plants, local sources told Anadolu.

Another incident in the southern West Bank occurred when illegal Israeli settlers destroyed crops on Palestinian land while tending to their sheep, local sources told Anadolu.

In recent months, illegal Israeli settlers have escalated their rampage against Palestinians and their properties throughout the occupied West Bank, ranging from arson attacks, stone-throwing on Palestinians and their vehicles, crop and olive tree uprooting, home attacks, and livestock theft.

Estimates indicate that about 700,000 illegal settlers are living in 164 settlements and 116 outposts in the occupied West Bank.​​​​​​​

The Israeli military has been regularly conducting raids in the West Bank over the past few years, which escalated with the start of the war on Gaza last October. Palestinians have also faced violent attacks from illegal settlers.

At least 553 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,300 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.

Israel stands accused of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice, which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio