A quiet moment of prayer on a roadside near Ramallah was shattered this week when an Israeli settler drove an all-terrain vehicle straight into a Palestinian man who was kneeling in worship. The incident, captured on video and circulated locally, shows the rider steering directly toward the unarmed worshipper near Deir Jarir before knocking him to the ground. The driver, visibly armed, then dismounted, shouted at the injured man and ordered him to leave the area, before riding away.

The wounded Palestinian was left suffering pain in both legs, according to his family, who say the same settler has repeatedly harassed residents after establishing an outpost close to the village. Villagers describe a pattern of provocation that includes blocking roads and grazing livestock on private land, part of a broader climate of intimidation that has intensified alongside the ongoing genocidal war. Despite the clarity of the footage, no arrest has been reported.

Military authorities later acknowledged that the settler involved is also an army reservist. A preliminary inquiry indicated he had earlier fired shots inside the village while dressed as a civilian. The lack of accountability has fuelled anger among residents, particularly as the quad attack was only one of several incidents that day. Elsewhere in Deir Jarir, settlers were filmed throwing stones and firing live rounds, injuring another Palestinian, while further attacks were reported across the occupied territory.

In separate cases, settlers targeted a family home in Sair, north of al-Khalil, smashing windows and injuring an eight-month-old girl in the face and head. In the south of the West Bank, a bulldozer was set ablaze in Beit Fajjar and walls were spray-painted with threats of “revenge”. None of these incidents resulted in detentions. The violence comes amid warnings from the United Nations that attacks by extremist settlers against unarmed civilians and their property are escalating, even as international law obligations are repeatedly invoked and routinely ignored under the shadow of a wider genocidal war.