Israeli settlers torch West Bank village as Israel begins a busy diplomatic week

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TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli settlers on Monday rampaged through a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, torching homes and cars in the latest in a string of settler attacks in recent weeks. The violence drew a rare condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top leaders.

Israel’s military said soldiers and police were sent to al-Jab’a, a small village southwest of Bethlehem, after reports of fires and vandalism. The attack came hours after clashes between Israeli security forces and settlers defending an unauthorized outpost on a nearby hill facing evacuation and demolition on Monday, according to COGAT, the Israeli military body that deals with civilians in the West Bank.

Israeli police said earlier that six suspects were arrested in confrontations during the demolitions, where dozens of Israeli settlers were entrenched and hundreds rioted, throwing stones and metal bars and burning tires.

The Monday night attack in al-Jab’a was the latest in a growing wave of settler violence to hit West Bank villages, which has surged this fall as Palestinians take part in their annual olive harvest. Violence carried out by settlers and Palestinian militants have both spiked as the Israeli military has stepped up operations in the occupied West Bank since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war.

The U.N. Humanitarian office reported that October saw the highest number of Israeli settler attacks since tracking began with more than 260 incidents causing injuries or property damage. That’s on top of 2,660 settler attacks documented this year through the end of September. Six hundred ninety Palestinians and 38 Israelis have been killed this year during the uptick in violence across the territory.

‘A handful of extremists’

Netanyahu called the settlers “a handful of extremists” and urged law enforcement to pursue them for “the attempt to take the law into their own hands.”

“I intend to deal with this personally, and convene the relevant ministers as soon as possible to provide a response to this serious phenomenon,” he said in a statement.

Netanyahu’s denunciation came at the outset of a busy week of diplomacy for Israel and after U.S. officials warned violence in the West Bank could undermine the month-old ceasefire in Gaza.

Yet despite the violence, it appeared to be advancing. The U.N. Security Council approved a U.S. plan for Gaza authorizing an international force to provide security and envisioning a possible path to an independent Palestinian state.

The vote was a crucial next step in U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan. Israeli leaders did not comment on the resolution but Netanyahu has previously voiced staunch opposition to moves toward establishing a Palestinian state and has long asserted doing so would reward Hamas.

Netanyahu’s remarks against settler violence also come ahead of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ’s arrival in Washington. Trump is expected to lobby him to normalize relations with Israel and join the Abraham Accords. But the crown prince has insisted he will not take that step without a viable path to statehood for Palestinians.

Formal ties with Saudi Arabia would be a major victory for the embattled prime minister, who on Sunday approved the establishment of a government committee to investigate the security failures that allowed Hamas-led militants to storm southern Israel and kill around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, on Oct. 7, 2023.

Netanyahu moves to shape inquiry

The prime minister’s announcement of the committee angered many in Israel who responded with concerns about its makeup.

The Oct. 7 committee approved by Netanyahu’s Cabinet differs from the kind of judge-led independent commission that Israel has convened in the past. Netanyahu, who previously resisted calls for an investigation, will oversee the makeup of the team governing the inquiry, in effect putting him in charge of the probe.

In Sunday’s decision, he said the ceasefire that went into effect on Oct. 10 allows the government to start the investigation.

Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, called the decision insulting to the victims of Oct. 7 and to the hundreds of soldiers who have died in the war.

“The government is doing everything it can to run from the truth and evade responsibility,” Lapid said.

Survey data based on 1,000 respondents published by the Jerusalem-based think tank Israel Democracy Institute last month suggested nearly three-quarters of the public support a fully independent commission of inquiry.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, which is critical of Netanyahu, said, “This is not an investigative commission, this is a cover-up commission.”

More details about the inquiry are to be announced in 45 days.

The Israeli military and other security bodies have conducted a number of investigations into their failures on Oct. 7. But the committee will also look at governmental decision-making and assumptions that created the conditions for the attack to occur.

In Gaza, flooding compounds woes

Flooding has added yet another layer to the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza. The U.N. humanitarian office said 13,000 families were affected by the rain that began late last week.

Abdallah Abu Quta, displaced to a tent with his family, called the suffering indescribable.

“All night, we and the children were awake, shivering from the cold. We made a channel in the ground to drain the water out,” he said on Sunday.

Israel sweeping military offensive has throughout the war killed more than 69,000 Palestinians in the coastal enclave, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.

The war, which began with Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, has triggered other conflicts in the region, sparked worldwide protests and led to allegations of genocide that Israel denies. ___ Metz reported from Rabat, Morocco. Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war