Four foreign pro-Palestinian activists — three Italians and one Canadian — were injured Sunday, one of them seriously, in a settler attack near Jericho, the Palestinian Authority’s WAFA news agency reported.
Medical and security sources cited by WAFA said that, at dawn, some 10 masked settlers stormed the house where the activists were staying, beat them, and stole property, including passports and cellphones.
They were treated at a Jericho hospital.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed to Italian media that three Italians were wounded, but not seriously, in the attack on the Palestinian community of Ein al-Duyuk.
Tajani’s ministry said in a statement that “three Italian international volunteers were attacked last night by Israeli settlers,” adding that they were “still in shock from the incident.”
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The Al Jazeera network aired photos of the Italian activists — two women and one man — with bruises on their faces. The man appeared to have a cut lip.
Last night, Israeli settler terrorists stormed the Ein al-Duyuk area near Jericho in the West Bank, attacked a house where foreign activists were staying, assaulted them, and stole their belongings — including passports and cellphones.
Three Italians and one Canadian were… pic.twitter.com/RMWzm0UL1y
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) November 30, 2025
One of the four, who had visible bruising and did not wish to be identified, told AFP that they were three people from Italy and one from Canada, staying in the Duyuk area on the western edge of Jericho in the central West Bank.
“We were asleep at night… 10 masked settlers came; two of them had guns, some of them had sticks,” they said. “They kicked me multiple times in the face, in the ribs, in the hip.
“It lasted about 10 to 15 minutes. And then they took all of our things. They stole my passport, my phone, my wallet, my bank cards, and then they left.
“We had to have X-rays, painkillers. Our friend was beaten more severely than we were.”
Italy’s foreign ministry also said in its statement that “the settlers reportedly entered their home, attacked the volunteers, and stole all their personal belongings.”
Tajani “is following the incident,” and is in close contact with Italy’s consul general in Jerusalem, the statement said.
According to Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper, the activists reported the incident to the Palestinian police and were assisted by the mayor of Jericho.
مستوطنون يعتدون بالضرب على متضامنين أجانب، ويرشون غازا ساما في وجوههم بقرية عين الديوك شمالي مدينة أريحا في الضفة الغربية#الأخبار pic.twitter.com/gyTYPfCGF3
— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) November 30, 2025
Riyad Eid, director of the Jericho government hospital, told AFP: “Four foreigners arrived at the hospital this morning after being beaten by settlers, according to what they reported.”
“They were suffering from bruises on the face for some of them, and on the chest, and one of them was beaten in a sensitive area,” he said. “They were examined, given X-rays and ultrasound scans, provided with the necessary treatment, and then discharged.”
Settler attacks have recently spiked in the West Bank, with the IDF recording 752 incidents of Jewish nationalist crime and settler violence since the start of 2025 — up from 675 in all of 2024.
Violence was already high in the West Bank, due to the war in Gaza that was sparked by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.
The United Nations said that October had been the worst month for settler violence since it began recording incidents in 2006, with 264 attacks that caused casualties or property damage.
Last week, a settler was charged with terrorism after he was filmed allegedly beating a Palestinian woman unconscious with a club, as she tried to harvest olives near the West Bank village of Turmus Ayya last month.
Prosecutions of Jewish extremists are rare, however, and convictions are even rarer. Critics accuse the government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history, of shrugging off the attacks.
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