The United States has labelled extremist settlers in the West Bank as terrorists, as violence reached the territory's only Christian town and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained silent on the unrest.
On Monday, settlers and Israeli soldiers attacked the town of al-Mazraa al-Sharqiya east of Ramallah, while settlers established a new outpost on lands belonging to Nahhalin in Bethlehem governorate. Israeli forces raided a hospital compound in Bethlehem, frightening patients, and arrested 18 Palestinians across the West Bank during overnight raids.
Settlers set fire to fields near Turmus Ayya in the central West Bank, and the Israel Defense Forces blocked a Palestinian ambulance attempting to reach the village. In Beita, settlers stormed the village and injured two residents with stones. Near Bethlehem, settlers threatened a Palestinian vehicle at gunpoint and sprayed pepper spray at passengers, including a young child. The European Union warned that escalating settler attacks in Qusra and elsewhere could ignite a wider explosion.