Arabic version: اعتقال تسعة في احتجاج بتل أبيب ضد عنف المستوطنين

According to Al Jazeera, Israeli police arrested nine people at a Tel Aviv demonstration against settler violence and Israeli military rule in the occupied West Bank. Hundreds gathered on Kaplan Street on Saturday for the protest, organised by the left-wing Hadash party and its allies.

The Mothers Against Violence group said more than 200 people participated and accused police of using force against demonstrators, including the nine people it confirmed were arrested. Israeli police said, according to local media, that the demonstration had proceeded without authorisation and had begun to disrupt public order and block the roadway.

The protest followed a confrontation in Tal, near Nablus, on Friday, when Israeli forces shot dead four Palestinians during what Al Jazeera described as a settler incursion on their land. Two Israelis were also killed. Essam Saifi, a local Fatah official, said about 30 settlers entered Tal, next to the illegal Israeli settlement of Havat Gilad, and tried to break into two houses. Residents confronted them and the settlers opened fire.

In response to the shooting incident, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a wide-scale military operation across the West Bank. Israeli forces arrested nearly 50 Palestinians in Tal while raiding about 70 homes. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said at least 80 Palestinians were held across the West Bank the following day, describing the action as “collective punishment”.

Official Palestinian figures say at least 1,182 Palestinians have been killed, 13,000 wounded and nearly 24,000 arrested in the occupied West Bank since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023.