Israeli Settlers Attack Israeli Troops in West Bank

Israeli troops got a Palestinian family back into their two West Bank homes Monday night—but the return lasted only about 10 minutes, reports Reuters. At that point, more than 100 Israeli settlers arrived and attacked soldiers and the Palestinians, even setting fire to the homes in a chaotic scene. "Due to the violence, the mission to return the family to their homes was not completed," the military said in a statement. Troops had the family go up to a roof when the settlers broke in but then evacuated them as the clashes intensified, reports the New York Times, citing witness accounts.

The soldiers were trying to enforce a Supreme Court order to return the Tubasi family to two homes they fled in July after repeated settler attacks in the village of Jalud. Three soldiers were injured in the clashes, and at least two settlers were arrested. The incident comes amid a sharp rise in settler violence documented by the UN and growing international pressure on Israel to rein it in, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists the unrest is the work of a small fringe.