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All of Palestine is under attack.

Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPR Qusra, Occupied Palestinian Territory Home of initial site of settler attack. Palestinians were running to protect their home, and one of their cars was torched. (the one in front, the car in back is old and in decay). A neighboring child drove his bicycle past. Sisters, wives, mothers, cousins and community gather and mourn at the Qusra wake for for four of the six men killed in Qusra. (a separate wake was under way for other two) Since the beginning of the week, there have been dozens of violent incidents by settlers against Palestinians across the West Bank. In the most severe incident in the village of Qusra (South of Nablus), four Palestinians were killed, and nine were injured after settlers entered the village and opened fire. Soldiers of the IDF were also present at the incident, and it is still not clear whether the deaths were caused by settler fire or by the IDF. The day after the incident, during the funeral of the victims, settlers called on people to come and stop the funeral procession. Indeed, the funeral procession was attacked on its way to Qusra and a Palestinian father and son were killed. The Qusra mayor,Hani Abu Ala, gave us a tour of there house that had been under attack when the initial attack occurred, and showed us proximity of the settlements encroachment on their village. We attended a wake of four of those killed, young men named Muaz Abed Odeh, Hassan Muhaned Odeh, Musab abdelhalim Abu Reida, Obeidah sa’ed Abu Saroor. Ahmed Wadi, 26, and his father Ibrahim, 63, were both killed by Israeli settlers at a funeral procession for four other Palestinians in Qusra village in the West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said this week.

For many of us, it’s impossible to imagine the scale of death and destruction in Gaza. 

In just two weeks, the Israeli military has killed over 5,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Israeli warplanes have flattened entire neighborhoods. Shell-shocked children are left to search for their parents under the rubble. Millions of Palestinians have once again been made refugees, bombed as they tried to flee. Surgeons are operating by the light of their cellphones, increasingly without anesthesia. 

Let us be clear: This is genocide.

This isn’t a war on Hamas. It’s a war on the Palestinian people. 

As Aseel Al Bajeh writes, “All of Palestine is under attack.”

While international attention is focused on Gaza, the Israeli government and extremist settler groups are taking the opportunity to accelerate the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank. 

Israeli settlers are being armed by the Israeli state, and have become indistinguishable from Israeli soldiers. Both abuse Palestinians with impunity.

On October 12, as the last villagers of Wadi al-Seeq left their homes, driven out by ongoing settler terror, a group of Israeli “soldiers-settlers” — some dressed in military uniform and some in civilian clothing — took three Palestinian men captive. 

For hours, the men were tortured: They beat them, forced them to strip down to their underwear, handcuffed and blindfolded them, urinated on them, extinguished cigarettes on their bodies, and attempted to sexually assault one of them. 

Settlers have carried out dozens of attacks, setting Palestinian homes on fire, destroying their property, and shooting at them with live ammunition.

Over 90 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 26 children, have been murdered by the Israeli military and settlers since October 7. 

They include 16-year-old Mohammad Rafat Mohammad Edwan, who was throwing stones at Israeli soldiers when he was shot with live ammunition. The bullet lodged itself in his lung, and four days later, on October 14, he was dead.

On October 12, 62-year-old Ibrahim Wadi and his son, 24-year-old Ahmad Wadi, were killed when Israeli settlers opened fire on the funeral procession of four Palestinians who had been murdered the previous day — three by Israeli settlers and one by an Israeli soldier. 

And on October 19, 11-year-old Yousef Mohammad Omar Zaghdad was killed when the Israeli military fired a missile at a group of civilians inside Noor Shams refugee camp. Three other children were killed in the attack. 

Enabled by the Israeli military and empowered by a climate of impunity and lawlessness, Israeli settlers are taking advantage of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza to steal more Palestinian land, thereby expanding Israeli control of the West Bank. Hundreds of Palestinians from over a dozen different communities in the West Bank have been displaced as a result. 

“They came into the village and destroyed houses and sheep pens, beat an 85-year-old man, scared our children. Slowly our lives became unlivable,” Sliman al-Zawahri, a resident of the now-depopulated village of Ein Rashash, told the Guardian. 

Israel’s war on Gaza has also heightened the discrimination faced by Palestinian citizens of Israel and those with Jerusalem IDs, who are increasingly being arrested, harassed, doxxed, suspended from school, and fired from their jobs for expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The expansion of Israel’s regime of Jewish supremacy relies on the destruction of all Palestinian life. For Palestinians, there is no right way to protest their subjugation, and nowhere safe from Israeli violence.

Power Half-Hours for Palestine

It’s of the utmost importance that we keep up the fight, not only for an immediate ceasefire In Gaza — but for an end to all Israeli oppression of Palestinians.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, October 25), we’ll be joining our partner organizations Rising Majority, Movement for Black Lives, Dream Defenders, and artist Kehlani for a joint movement Palestine Power Hour.

JVP’s Power Half-Hours will continue, every day Monday through Friday, at 3pm ET/12pm PT. The same link will work every day — you can re-register here. On Thursday, October 26, we’ll be hosting a Power Half-Hour with Drop the ADL. Join us using the JVP link. 

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