Tel Aviv/Ramallah, Oct 20. (dpa/GNA) – Israeli security forces have arrested 10 suspects, believed to be settlers in connection with attacks on a US photographer and European diplomats in the occupied West Bank, police said on Monday.
Those suspected of involvement in the violence at the weekend are now being questioned, police said in a statement.
“Following questioning, and subject to the findings of the investigation, they will be brought before a court for a hearing,” it added.
Israeli forces also seized vehicles during raids in several locations in the West Bank, according to police. They also secured items that are said to link the suspects to the attacks.
US photographer, Heidi Levine, who works for the Washington Post newspaper, was injured in an alleged settler attack on Friday.
According to reports, dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians harvesting olives. Levine, who can be seen in footage of the incident, wearing a protective vest emblazoned with “PRESS,” documented the violence.
According to the Washington Post, settlers eventually knocked her to the ground and kicked her. The attack drew sharp criticism from the United States.
US Secretary of State called it “disturbing” and “not a good look.”
On Saturday, extremist Israeli settlers reportedly attacked vehicles carrying Belgian, French and Polish diplomats, as well as a French mayor, in the West Bank.
The attackers smashed a window of a diplomatic vehicle, while video footage showed a diplomat lying on the ground.
Violence in the occupied West Bank has escalated since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since then, in Israeli military operations, armed clashes or their own attacks. At the same time, violence by radical Israeli settlers against Palestinians has increased sharply.
Reports of attacks on Palestinians or their property come almost daily. Israel’s military and police are repeatedly accused of not acting decisively enough against this.
GNA