Attackers flee

30 shots fired at illegal settlement in the West Bank

Several Israeli soldiers were injured in the attack.

(Bild: AFP)

Palestinian militants have attacked an illegal settler outpost near the West Bank city of Nablus. Several soldiers were injured. The Israeli government is nevertheless planning to legalize further violations of the law by radical settlers.

The Palestinians fired around 30 shots at an Israeli army post guarding the settlement of Homesh, the broadcaster Kan reported on Friday. As the soldiers pursued the attackers, the militants detonated an explosive device. Three soldiers suffered moderate injuries and four others sustained minor injuries, the army announced in the evening.

Search operation for attackers
The armed forces launched a search operation after the attackers fled in the direction of the Palestinian village of Silat al-Dhar. The Homesh outpost in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is considered illegal even under Israeli law. It was abandoned in 2005 when Israel evacuated the Gaza Strip, along with three other illegal outposts.

Radical settlers have never really come to terms with this. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, however, wants to revive and legalize the evacuated outposts at the instigation of its far-right coalition partners.

Illegal construction projects approved
Last December, the civilian arm of the military administration in the West Bank approved new construction activities in Homesh. However, living there is still not legal. According to a report in the "New York Times", three families are living there in improvised barracks. 50 religious students are staying there temporarily to study the Torah. The army guards the entrances to the settlement.

Since the start of the war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year, the situation in the West Bank has deteriorated significantly. According to the Ministry of Health, 406 Palestinians have since been killed in the West Bank in Israeli military operations, confrontations or their own attacks. There has also been an increase in settler violence against Palestinians.