ISRAEL – The Israeli army expanded raids in northern parts of the occupied West Bank on Thursday, restricting Palestinian movements and imposing a tight cordon on the Kafr Saba neighborhood in Qalqilya.

Troops raided Qalqilya at dawn and enforced a curfew on Kafr Saba while deploying across several parts of the city, witnesses said.

They said soldiers searched homes and questioned residents as tension grew around the neighborhood.

In a related development, the army withdrew from the town of Masliya, south of Jenin, after raiding it for hours and imposing a curfew. Damage from the raid remained visible across the town.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued their third day of operations in nearby Qabatiya, enforcing tight movement restrictions and carrying out repeated home raids.

Israeli Settlers Attack Volunteers in West Bank

Illegal Israeli settlers attacked activists and foreign volunteers early Thursday in the Bedouin community of Shallal al-Auja, north of Jericho in the eastern West Bank, local media reported.

A group of illegal settlers from nearby outposts raided the community and assaulted activists and international supporters who were there to help protect Palestinian residents, Hassan Mleihat, director of the Bedouin rights group al-Baydar, told the official news agency Wafa.

He said activists and unarmed villagers confronted the illegal settlers and forced them to flee.

Wafa did not specify the nationalities of the foreign volunteers.

According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, an official body, illegal Israeli settlers have carried out 621 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank in November only.