An Italian and a Canadian volunteer were among four people assaulted early Sunday morning by Israeli settlers in the village of Ein al-Duyuk, near Areeha, while helping protect local Palestinians from rising settler violence.

All four victims were hospitalized, with one Italian man remaining in care in Ramallah on Monday due to more severe injuries.

In a written statement, the Canadian volunteer described the attack as follows: “At 4:30 a.m. on 30 November, 10 masked settlers, two carrying army-issued rifles, entered the home where we were sleeping after night-watch. They beat us for about 15 minutes. I was repeatedly kicked in the head, ribs, hips, and thighs. They shouted insults in Arabic and told us we had no right to be there. They smashed the interior of the house and destroyed the solar batteries before leaving.”

The Canadian volunteer, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, added, “This is not about us. We were beaten for 15 minutes. Palestinians here endure this violence every day, every hour, a thousand-fold.”

Canada’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the attack, calling it “violent acts committed by extremist settlers” and opposing “any actions or talk about annexation of the Palestinian territories.”

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani echoed the concerns, saying, “We have had enough of this aggression. This is not the way [for the settlers] to assert their rights.”

Manal Tamimi, a Palestinian activist with Faz3a, an organization that recruits foreign volunteers to protect villages in the West Bank, said, “Since a new outpost was built near the village two months ago, far-right settlers have arrived, and they appear to be organized. The attack on the volunteers was carried out in a very coordinated manner.”

Settlers, IOF attack West Bank Palestinians 2,350 times

The Palestinian Authority’s Commission against the Wall and Settlements reported that during October, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) and settlers carried out a total of 2,350 incidents in the occupied West Bank, reflecting an ongoing pattern of attacks targeting Palestinians, their lands, and property.

Mu’ayyad Sha’ban, head of the commission, stated that occupation forces were responsible for 1,584 of these incidents, while settlers carried out 766 attacks.

The report highlighted that the highest number of attacks occurred in the governorates of Ramallah and al-Bireh (542), Nablus (412), and al-Khalil (401), pointing to a focused effort to disrupt daily life in key areas of the occupied territory.

These assaults took place alongside the annual olive harvest, a period traditionally marked by a rise in such attacks. The commission recorded cases involving direct physical assaults, the uprooting and burning of olive trees, restrictions on access to farmland, and the confiscation of property.