HEBRON, Palestine 

A 40-year-old Palestinian woman was assaulted and injured by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday, medics said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the woman was beaten by rifle butts in the old city of Hebron and was transferred to a hospital for medical attention.

Imad Abu Shamsiya, a human rights activist, said that the woman was attacked while documenting Israeli soldiers as they stopped a group of women in the Ras area of Hebron’s old city.

He identified the assaulted woman as Areej Al-Jaabari, a fellow human rights advocate.

“When the soldiers recognized her identity, they violently attacked her without warning,” Abu Shamsiya told Anadolu.

Under the 1997 Hebron Protocol, the city is divided into two zones: H1, under Palestinian control, and H2, under Israeli control, which constitutes approximately 20% of the city, including the old city and the Ibrahimi Mosque.

The Israeli outposts in the city are home to around 500 illegal settlers residing in heavily guarded settlements, with hundreds of Israeli soldiers stationed throughout the area.

Over the past few years, the Israeli military has conducted regular raids in the West Bank, which have escalated with the beginning of the war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. Palestinians have also been violently attacked by illegal Israeli settlers.

At least 859 Palestinians have since been killed and over 6,700 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul