Israeli settlers torch cars on Ramallah outskirts, residents say

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Jewish settlers torched 20 cars during an attack on Palestinian property on the outskirts of Ramallah on Monday, residents said, in one of their boldest raids yet in the area that serves as the Palestinians' seat of government in the occupied West Bank.

Around a dozen attackers, masked and carrying petrol bombs, targeted the Al-Bireh area, which adjoins Ramallah, at around 3 a.m. (0100 GMT), torching the cars in a matter of minutes, they said.

Resident Ihab al-Zaben said he yelled at the settlers but they carried on burning the vehicles regardless.

"When we came down to try to extinguish the fire, they started shooting at us," he said.

The facade of a residential building was left blackened by fires set in cars that had been parked outside.

The Israeli police and the Shin Bet security agency were investigating after receiving a report that a number of Palestinian cars had been burned, the Israeli police spokesperson said in a statement.

Jewish settler violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank has drawn condemnation internationally and led to sanctions on violent settlers by some governments, notably the United States, which has urged Israel to do more to stop the attacks.

The Palestinian Authority, based in Ramallah, condemned "the brutal attack by settler militias". Its Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for "comprehensive sanctions targeting the entire settler-colonial system".

Hamas official Abdul Rahman Shadid said the attack represented an escalation by settlers and required "escalating the confrontation and confronting these crimes", a statement by the Palestinian group said.

SETTLER VIOLENCE WORSENS DURING GAZA WAR

Israel has settled the West Bank since capturing it during the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians say the settlements have undermined the prospects for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Israel views the West Bank as the biblical Judea and Samaria, and the settlers cite biblical ties to the land.

Settler violence had been on the rise prior to the eruption of the Gaza war, and has worsened since the conflict began just over a year ago.

In an interview with Reuters last week, a leader of the settler community expressed confidence that Donald Trump, if he wins the U.S. presidential election, will lift what the settlers see as the illegitimate sanctions imposed over attacks on Palestinians.

Most countries deem the settlements illegal under international law. In 2019, the then-Trump administration abandoned the long-held U.S. position that the settlements are illegal before it was restored by President Joe Biden.

(Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in Jerusalem and by Nuha Sharaf, Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by Timothy Heritage)