Netanyahu condemns 'criminal' settler violence in West Bank after weeks of attacks on Palestinian villages

Benjamin Netanyahu has broken his silence over escalating settler attacks in the occupied West Bank, calling the perpetrators a "handful of rioters" causing "grave injustice" and damaging Israel's reputation internationally. Israeli President Isaac Herzog likewise condemned the perpetrators as "lawbreakers" acting against Israeli values. The statements followed fresh violence in Qusra and Jalud on Saturday, the most recent in a string of flashpoints over recent weeks.

Dozens of extremist settlers stormed Qusra, forcing their way into a Palestinian home and barricading it from inside with the residents still present, while others threw stones and drove masked through nearby Jalud.

Residents in Qusra reported three Palestinian families have been trapped in besieged homes since August 9, cut off from water and electricity, with settlers having burned a mosque there in July.

Netanyahu's government faces accusations of hypocrisy — it has funded illegal settler outposts and Israel is criticised for rarely arresting or prosecuting those behind settler attacks.