DUBAI, February 22. /TASS/. Israeli settlers attacked a village south of the West Bank city of Nablus and tried to start a fire in a residential building, the Palestinian WAFA news agency reported.

According to it, the settlers attacked one of the houses on the outskirts of the village and tried to set it on fire, but were prevented from doing so by local residents. The Israeli threw stones at them, injuring one Palestinian.

The news agency also reported that the Israeli military carried out raids and arrests in the West Bank cities of Azzun, Jericho, Tulkarm and Yatta.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 240 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis, and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes have also been reported on the West Bank.