Israeli settlers take over Palestinian house in Jalud, West Bank

Palestinian Mohammad Salameh was building a two‑storey home for his family in the village of Jalud in the Israeli‑occupied West Bank. In early July, a group of Israeli settlers entered the unfinished house, walked on its roof and seized the property, according to video verified by Reuters. Salameh’s appeals to the Israeli military and police received no response, and he warned that the loss of his home could herald similar seizures of nearby houses.

The incident is part of a broader surge in settler assaults that have targeted homes, water springs, electricity lines and greenhouses across the occupied West Bank. A United Nations inquiry reported a 130 % rise in settler attacks on Palestinian villages and agricultural land since 2023. About 500,000 Israeli settlers live among roughly 3 million Palestinians in the territory, which most countries and the UN deem illegal under international law. Settlement expansion has accelerated under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, drawing condemnation from the United States and other allies.