Palestinian officials and activists said that Israel tried to invest in the war on Gaza, providing protection and security cover for settlers to carry out repeated attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
Settlers' attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have escalated, under security cover, since the outbreak of the war in Gaza on October 7.
A Palestinian official and settlement resistance activists pointed out that "the Israeli army has turned into a militia led by settlers in military uniform."
105 attacks in military uniform
Amir Daoud, documentation official at the Wall and Settlement Resistance Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that 105 attacks were documented carried out by settlers wearing Israeli army uniforms in the West Bank from October 7 until the first week of January.
Daoud confirmed that the attacks “took place in military uniform and with army weapons,” and described the phenomenon as “dangerous.”
He considered that "what is taking place is a functional exchange, and we do not believe that the settlers' attacks are random, but rather they are planned and directed in the official corridors."
Daoud said that armed settlers from the "price tag" and "hilltop youth" groups are being trained to harass the Bedouin population, pursue them, and push them to force them to leave without interference from the official institution.
He pointed out that 22 communities have been displaced since October 7, and that "the Israeli army provides protection to settlers from legal prosecution, which resulted in the martyrdom of 10 Palestinians in recent months."
Since the formation of the current Israeli government a year ago headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, which is a coalition that includes far-right parties, settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories have escalated.
The United Nations considers Israeli settlement illegal, and calls in vain for it to stop.
“They follow the orders of extremists.”
For his part, the Palestinian activist with the "Youth Against Settlements" (non-governmental) group, Issa Amr, said that since October 7, settlers have launched attacks in military uniform.
He added: "A portion of the settlers carried out attacks during times of military service because they were reserve soldiers. They behaved as if they were settlers, not an army, and under the orders of the political extremists and their settler groups."
He continued: "There are settlers wearing army uniforms while they are off duty, and attacks are being carried out without the ability to pursue or confront them because they are wearing military uniforms and carrying weapons."
He concluded, saying: “So today the settlers are behaving as they want, and they are an organized terrorist group, and they enjoy political and military coverage.”
Amr referred to the decision to arm settlers issued by Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, saying: “The government officially creates militias whose goal is to displace and kill Palestinians.”
War investment
In turn, the anti-settlement activist, Bashar Qaryouti, confirmed that dozens of attacks were observed on his town of Qaryout and neighboring villages south of Nablus, by settlers, who were wearing military uniforms.
Al-Qaryouti considered "the exploitation of the war on the Gaza Strip by the settlers. They break into homes, destroy everything in them, and steal what they can, all while wearing military uniforms, which provides them with protection."
On January 5, the leftist Israeli "Peace Now" movement revealed an unprecedented boom in settlement activity in the West Bank since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip.
Peace Now estimates that more than 700,000 settlers reside in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Since the outbreak of the war on Gaza, the Israeli occupation army has intensified its operations in the West Bank and expanded incursions and raids, which resulted in the death of 373 Palestinians and the injury of about 4,250 others.
While the devastating war on Gaza waged by the Israeli occupation army, as of Wednesday, has left 25,700 martyrs and 63,740 injured, most of them children and women, according to the Palestinian authorities, and has caused massive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the United Nations.
Hamas appreciates the Egyptian position rejecting Israel’s threats regarding the Philadelphia Axis
The Hamas movement appreciated Egypt's rejection of Israel's threats regarding the Philadelphia axis, in response to Cairo's position rejecting any Israeli move to occupy the border axis between Gaza and Egypt and considering it a serious threat to relations.
On Thursday, the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas appreciated the position of the Republic of Egypt rejecting Israel’s threats regarding the Philadelphia border axis with the Gaza Strip.
Taher Al-Nono, media advisor to the head of the movement’s political bureau, said in a statement on Thursday: “The movement appreciates the position of sister Egypt regarding the occupation’s threats regarding the Salah al-Din (Philadelphia) axis.”
Al-Nono stressed that this position “expresses the importance of the Egyptian role and its influence in supporting and assisting our Palestinian people in this historic battle, and stopping the brutal aggression against which our people are exposed, especially in Gaza.”
On Monday, Diaa Rashwan, head of the official Egyptian Information Service, said, “Any Israeli move toward occupying the Philadelphia or Salah al-Din Corridor in the Gaza Strip will lead to a serious and serious threat to Egyptian-Israeli relations.”
He added in a statement, "Israel's continued marketing of these lies is an attempt to create legitimacy for its quest to occupy the Philadelphia Corridor or the Salah al-Din Corridor."
The official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation stated that official Israeli officials informed Egypt that they are planning to carry out a military operation in the Philadelphia axis border area between the Gaza Strip and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi confirmed on Wednesday, in a speech he delivered during a celebration of the 72nd anniversary of Police Day, that the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip is “open 24 hours a day,” accusing Israel of “obstructing the entry of aid into the Strip.”
Earlier Wednesday, Sisi refused to receive a phone call from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “in light of differences of opinion with Egypt, regarding a possible Israeli military move in the Philadelphia and Rafah axis,” according to the Hebrew Channel 13.
The Philadelphia Axis, also called the Salah al-Din Axis, is within a buffer zone under the “Camp David” Accords between Egypt and Israel in 1979. Its width does not exceed hundreds of meters, and extends 14.5 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea to the “Kerem Shalom” crossing.