A disturbing incident in the occupied West Bank has drawn sharp condemnation after an Israeli settler, who was also a reserve soldier, deliberately drove his all-terrain vehicle (ATV) into a Palestinian man who was kneeling in prayer by the roadside. The attack, captured on video, occurred near the village of Deir Jarir, north of Ramallah, and is part of a sharp rise in violence in the territory since the Gaza war began.
Video Captures Deliberate Assault
The silent but graphic footage shows the Palestinian man, engaged in prayer, being struck by the moving ATV. The force of the impact sends him tumbling to the ground, where he lies motionless. The Israeli settler, with a rifle slung across his back, then gets off the vehicle, shouts at the fallen man, and aggressively gestures for him to leave the area. The video further shows the assailant approaching a Palestinian taxi, yelling at the driver, before returning to his ATV and driving away.
IDF Confirms Soldier's Identity and Takes Action
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) later confirmed that the individual seen in the video is a reserve soldier in the Israeli military. In response to the incident, the military stated it had confiscated the soldier's weapon and suspended him from reserve duty. Israeli police reported that the suspect was arrested on Thursday night and placed under house arrest for five days.
An initial military investigation revealed even more alarming conduct by the same soldier earlier that day. The probe found that while wearing civilian clothes, he had opened fire inside Deir Jarir village, an act the IDF labeled a "serious breach of his authority." Earlier on the same day, a young Palestinian man was reportedly wounded in Deir Jarir after settlers threw stones and fired a gun in the village.
Surge in West Bank Violence
This attack is not an isolated event but part of a dangerous escalation in the West Bank. Violence has surged dramatically since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since the war began. The IDF maintains that the vast majority of those killed were gunmen engaged in clashes, rioters, or terrorists carrying out attacks.
The incident near Deir Jarir underscores the tense and volatile atmosphere in the occupied territory, where confrontations between Israeli settlers, soldiers, and Palestinian residents have become increasingly frequent and deadly.
