An Israeli court has released nine of the 10 settler suspects arrested over attacks on a US journalist and European diplomats in the occupied West Bank, placing them under house arrest.
The Jerusalem court ordered their release late on Wednesday, according to the law firm Honenu, which represents Israeli settlers. Israeli police said one suspect remained in custody and that investigations into the incidents were continuing.
The arrests followed an assault on Heidi Levine, a Washington Post photojournalist covering a Palestinian olive harvest. Masked settlers were filmed attacking her last week, and she was taken to hospital for surgery on a finger.
In a separate incident earlier this week, masked settlers assaulted French, Belgian and Polish diplomats, as well as a French mayor, in another part of the West Bank.
The United States had called for a crackdown on settler violence, while France, Belgium and Poland also urged Israel to take action.
Yonatan Kanonich, head of research at the Israeli rights group Yesh Din, said arrests were uncommon in attacks against Palestinians.
“In the vast majority of attacks against Palestinians, no arrests are made at all,” he said. “In cases that receive media coverage … the police arrest several settlers and release most of them shortly afterward.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday that the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory was “out of control”, citing daily attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, as well as assaults on journalists and diplomats.
Mr Guterres called for “a credible political path towards lasting peace”.
West Bank olive harvest attacks
The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said it had documented 17 attacks, described as pogroms, by Israeli forces and settlers against Palestinian farmers and their land during the olive harvest.
The commission recorded 409 attacks in October, including 317 attributed to settlers and 92 to Israeli forces. Nablus recorded the highest number, with 166, followed by Salfit with 91.
It said the incidents included assaults on farmers, preventing access to farmland, theft of crops and equipment, damage to and burning of olive trees, arrests, threats at gunpoint and live fire.
Ali Hassan Bazzari, from Burqa, died from wounds caused by settler gunfire while picking olives on October 7, the commission reported.
On Thursday, settlers reportedly set fire to olive trees near Imatin, east of Qalqilya. Israeli forces forced farmers to leave the area and detained one farmer and several of his workers, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Near Yabad, west of Jenin, settlers reportedly stole 17 bags of harvested olives and farming equipment. Around Jenin, Israeli forces closed transport routes and most village gates, preventing farmers from reaching land in Barta’a, Wafa reported, citing a local Palestinian official.
