ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Four international activists were attacked by Israeli settlers in the West Bank on Sunday morning, with Palestinian state media reporting that roughly a dozen assailants broke into their house in Ein al‑Duyuk, near Jericho, to beat them and steal their possessions.

The attackers also stole the victims’ belongings, including their passports, and warned them not to return. The four—reported to be three Italian citizens and one Canadian—received assistance from the West Bank police and the mayor of Jericho and were treated at a hospital in Jericho on Sunday.

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. They were examined, given X‑rays and ultrasound scans, provided with the necessary treatment and then discharged.”

The Canadian foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns” the latest settler violence, confirming in a statement that it is aware a Canadian citizen was injured in the West Bank.

Ottawa denounced “acts of violence committed by extremist settlers” and reiterated its opposition to any moves or rhetoric aimed at annexing the Palestinian territory. The statement also stressed that, under international law, civilians must be protected.

The Italian activists are part of Faz3a, a Palestinian campaign active in the West Bank in support of local communities.

“A real squadron‑style attack”

“We were sleeping when at 5 o’clock we were attacked by a group of settlers armed with sticks and rifles: there were 10 of them, and they were masked,” a 27‑year‑old Italian volunteer told Sky TG24 by phone. She was attacked along with two other Italians and a Canadian woman. “And this happened, we must specify, in Area A, where, by law, also under the Oslo Accords, there should not be any kind of Israeli presence.”

She said she and her colleagues were beaten, punched, and slapped, “especially kicks in the face, in the ribs, in the abdomen, along the legs.” The three Italian volunteers were discharged from the hospital and are not in life‑threatening condition, but all sustained injuries.

“Right now, I have severe pain in my ribs,” she said. “My friend from Canada who is here with me is much worse: she has black bruises all along her leg and abdomen. They knew we were international people there and when they left, after stealing all our stuff, they told us: ‘Don’t come back here.’”

Some of the settlers were armed with rifles. “When they arrived they pointed their flashlights inside the house, saying they were from the army,” another activist from the group told the Italian newspaper L’Indipendente. “They knew there were internationals in there. They also beat them with the butts of their rifles, they repeatedly hit them on the ribs, in the face, in the most vulnerable areas. A real squadron‑style attack,” continued the activist, who is also Italian. 

“Surely this attack changes the level of escalation that the settlers also have with internationals, in addition to the already very serious violence they carry out daily against Palestinians,” the activist said.

Settler violence has intensified since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and the community of Ein al‑Duyuk has been experiencing it firsthand: in the last two months, local families have seen nearly 200 sheep and chickens stolen.

Israel has faced extensive criticism for using the October 7 attacks as a pretext to expand the roundly-condemned policy of settlement expansion in the West Bank.

“They came day and night to harass, threaten, and attack the villagers,” said the activist, who spent several days in the community before the latest assault. “Their goal is clear: to terrorize Palestinians and push them to abandon the lands on which they have always lived,” he concluded.

Italian foreign minister’s response

“I just spoke with the Italian consul in Jerusalem; he updated me on the situation. He told me that the Italians ‘are injured but not seriously, they are returning to Ramallah and therefore should be reachable in the afternoon. I’ll try to speak with them this afternoon,’” Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani said on Sunday morning, on the sidelines of the We Moderates national assembly. “Having said that, we can only reiterate our condemnation of what is happening: just the other day we issued a joint Italy–France–Germany–Great Britain statement condemning what the settlers in the West Bank are doing,” added the Forza Italia secretary.

Regarding the West Bank, Tajani continued: “No hypothesis of annexation should be allowed. We are absolutely against it: the Palestinian civilian population must be respected... Our appeal to the government of Israel is to stop the settlers and prevent this violence from continuing, which does not help advance the peace plan we are all working for. We need to move from the first to the second phase, and initiatives like this certainly do not help to calm tensions.”

The Jordan Valley, where Ein al‑Duyuk is located, is one of the areas most affected by what Palestinian and human rights groups describe as ongoing ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. The valley, which makes up almost 30 percent of the West Bank, is classified as Area C—under full Israeli control. Ein al‑Duyuk itself, however, lies in Area A, which is supposed to be under full control of the Palestinian Authority.

Violence across the West Bank has surged alongside Israel’s genocide in Gaza that has seen nearly 70,000 Palestinians killed since October 7, 2023, according to local health authorities. Rights groups and UN officials say that, under cover of the Gaza offensive, Israeli forces and settlers have stepped up raids, shootings, land seizures, and restrictions on Palestinian movement in the occupied territory.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers now live in communities scattered across the West Bank, territory Israel has occupied since 1967. These settlements are deemed illegal under international law.

The latest incidents also come as lawmakers in Israel’s far-right governing coalition advanced a bill in the Knesset to apply Israeli law directly to the West Bank—a step widely viewed by legal experts as a de facto annexation of the territory. The measure has already cleared a first parliamentary hurdle and would further entrench Israeli control over the territory and effectively end any prospect of a negotiated two-state solution.