AFP journalists attacked by West Bank settlers, AFP says

Israeli settlers attacked AFP journalists near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, leaving at least five people injured, the journalists and Palestinian medics said.

A three-person AFP team had travelled to Jannatah to report on Israeli activists who conduct solidarity visits for Palestinians facing harassment by Israeli settlers, including after settlers recently blocked a road in the area.

After an altercation between settlers and activists, the Israeli military ordered journalists to leave what it called a “closed military zone”. The journalists said two more cars carrying settlers then arrived.

The journalists said settlers, many of them children, threw stones towards journalists and activists. One AFP journalist said he ducked a stone before a child settler hit him in the chin with a stick, causing minor bleeding.

The AFP team later found both of its parked cars damaged, with rear windshields smashed and tyres punctured. Activists' cars were also damaged. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said five people were treated for injuries, and AFP journalists said they saw at least one Israeli activist taken away in a Palestinian ambulance.

During the clash, an Israeli soldier temporarily seized a video journalist's camera and later returned it, AFP journalists said. An Israeli military spokesperson said the temporary confiscation was under review.

The military spokesperson said Israeli police joined the military to collect evidence on the damaged cars and that a police investigation had been opened.

The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since 1967. More than 500,000 Israelis live there alongside about three million Palestinians. Violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers has increased since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip.