A Palestinian youth was left with shattered legs after being deliberately run over by an illegal Israeli settler vehicle in the occupied West Bank on Friday morning, in yet another incident highlighting the escalating violence faced by Palestinians amid what rights groups and officials increasingly describe as a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing.

The attack took place on Amman Street, east of Nablus, when a convoy of illegal settlers stormed the area in vehicles under the protection, or at minimum acquiescence, of Israeli occupation forces, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Caught On Camera: Settler Violence In Plain Sight.

Video footage widely circulated on social media shows a young Palestinian man walking along the roadside when a speeding vehicle swerves toward him, striking him head-on. The impact sends the victim flying several metres into the air before he crashes onto the asphalt.

Palestinian medical sources confirmed that the youth suffered fractures to both legs. No settlers were reported injured, and no arrests have been announced.

Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, cited by Anadolu Agency, reported that the Israeli army acknowledged the incident. According to the army’s account, a group of Breslov Hasidic settlers had entered Nablus without authorisation to visit Joseph’s Tomb and ran over a Palestinian while fleeing the area.

Rather than detaining those responsible, Israeli forces reportedly entered the area only after the incident, as settlers escaped the scene. Haaretz described the attack as a “hit-and-run,” noting that the settlers fled after their vehicle overturned, an outcome that nonetheless did not lead to their arrest.

Joseph’s Tomb: A Flashpoint Of State-Backed Provocation.

Joseph’s Tomb, located on the eastern edge of Nablus, has long served as a flashpoint for settler incursions and violent confrontations. While Jews claim the site as the burial place of the biblical patriarch Joseph, Palestinians dispute the claim, stating that Sheikh Yussef Dawiqat, a Muslim cleric, was buried there roughly two centuries ago.

Despite being located deep inside Palestinian population centres, settlers routinely enter the area under military escort, often triggering clashes, raids, and deadly confrontations. Human rights groups argue these incursions function as deliberate provocations designed to assert Israeli control and normalise settler presence in Palestinian cities.

Raids, Worshippers Besieged, And Children Shot.

The settler attack came amid a wave of Israeli military raids across the occupied West Bank.

On Friday, Israeli occupation forces stormed the village of Salem, east of Nablus, deploying multiple military vehicles, firing tear gas and stun grenades, and erecting mobile checkpoints inside residential neighbourhoods, according to Al Jazeera Arabic, citing security sources.

Further south, in Husan village west of Bethlehem, occupation forces raided Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque, besieging worshippers inside following Friday prayers. Rami Hamamreh, director of the Husan Village Council, told WAFA that soldiers prevented worshippers from leaving, fired stun grenades inside the vicinity of the mosque, and physically assaulted several Palestinians.

In Qabatiya, south of Jenin, a Palestinian child was shot in the leg on Thursday after Israeli forces raided the town, deploying infantry units and firing live ammunition, WAFA reported.

These incidents form part of a relentless pattern of military raids, settler attacks, and collective punishment across the West Bank.

Staggering Toll Since October 2023.

According to Palestinian figures cited by Anadolu Agency, Israeli occupation forces and illegal settlers have killed at least 1,097 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since October 2023. Nearly 11,000 Palestinians have been injured, while around 21,000 have been detained, many without charge under Israel’s administrative detention regime.

Human rights organisations note that settler violence, often carried out in broad daylight and increasingly lethal functions as an extension of state policy, enabled by military protection and near-total impunity.

Operation Iron Wall: “Not Security, But Erasure.”

Beyond individual attacks, Israel is facing mounting accusations that it is conducting a coordinated campaign of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank through mass displacement, demolitions, and the destruction of refugee camps.

A detailed investigation published this week by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, and cited by Middle East Monitor (MEMO), revealed that Israel’s military operation dubbed “Operation Iron Wall”, launched in January 2024, has forcibly displaced more than 44,000 Palestinians.

According to the report:

• 22,000 Palestinians were displaced from the Jenin area
• Another 22,000 were expelled from Tulkarm and the Nur Al-Shams refugee camp

While Israel claims the operation targets “terrorist infrastructure,” local officials, humanitarian agencies, and displaced residents describe a policy aimed at rendering refugee camps permanently uninhabitable, effectively dismantling the Palestinian right of return.

Refugee Camps Flattened:

The destruction has been particularly severe in Jenin and Nur Al-Shams, where entire neighbourhoods have been razed.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA’s West Bank director, told Haaretz that 48 per cent of all homes in Nur Al-Shams have been damaged or destroyed, making a meaningful return impossible without massive reconstruction.

“This is a serious violation of international law, with grave humanitarian and political consequences,” said Jenin Governor Kamal Abu al-Rub, noting that around 800 buildings, nearly 40 per cent of the camp, have been levelled.

“Thousands of families have been living in complete uncertainty for months, scattered across villages and towns, unable to return,” he added.

In Tulkarm, Governor Abdallah Kamil stated that at least 9,000 residents had been displaced, with 1,514 families losing their homes entirely and another 2,200 homes partially destroyed, most now uninhabitable.

“These are not security operations,” Kamil said. “This is an intentional policy by the Israeli government to eliminate the camps and prevent the displaced from returning.”

“A Second Nakba”:

Several Palestinian officials and analysts have explicitly described the campaign as ethnic cleansing, drawing parallels to the Nakba of 1948, when more than 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled and over 500 villages destroyed to establish the Israeli state.

Kamil warned that the objective is to “alter the geographic and demographic reality” of the West Bank and eliminate the refugee question entirely.

UNRWA’s Friedrich echoed the concern, warning that unless halted, Israel’s demolition campaign could lead to permanent displacement for tens of thousands.

“This is not about security,” he said. “This is about long-term control.”

International Law Ignored:

These developments unfold despite a landmark advisory opinion issued last July by the International Court of Justice, which declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Yet on the ground, settlement expansion, settler violence, and mass displacement continue unabated, underscoring what Palestinians and human rights groups describe as the collapse of international accountability.

From a young man crushed under settler wheels in Nablus to entire refugee camps erased in Jenin and Tulkarm, the evidence points to a single, chilling conclusion: violence, displacement, and demographic engineering are no longer collateral to Israel’s occupation; they are its core strategy.