Witnesses: The Israeli army helped settlers seize olive groves in the West Bank

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Eyewitnesses and first responders reported that Israeli soldiers supported settlers on Saturday who seized Palestinian olive groves at the start of the harvest season, resulting in the injury of several people in various areas of the occupied West Bank.

October is the traditional date for the start of the olive harvest season for Palestinians.

This year's season comes against a backdrop of escalating violence, with daily attacks and robberies committed by settlers backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government ahead of elections scheduled for October 27.

98 thousand damaged olive trees...the fruit harvesting season in the West Bank begins under bullets, forced military evacuation orders, and the confiscation of equipment pic.twitter.com/FzluLeYfSc

Near the town of Beita in the northern West Bank, Palestinians began harvesting in the morning, where they were confronted by settlers who retreated briefly after farmers and visiting activists confronted them in solidarity, some of whom were Israeli, according to what eyewitnesses reported.

Then soldiers rushed to the site, prompting farmers and activists to flee, and arrested a number of Palestinians, including a person whose screams were heard from inside a military jeep, according to what an Agence France-Presse journalist witnessed.

The Israeli army detained six journalists, one of them from Agence France-Presse, and released them after twenty minutes without charges.

Farmer Muhammad Hamayel told Agence France-Presse, "Today, as usual, we went to pick olives in the land where we grew up and lived, we, our fathers, and our grandfathers."

He added that the army's goal was "to evacuate the area for the settlers so that they can pick olives. This is our land, and we will remain steadfast, God willing."

AFP contacted the Israeli army for comment.

In the village of Asira al-Qibliya, south of the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at Palestinian farmers in olive groves, causing fires to ignite in dry fields, according to an Agence France-Presse correspondent, and farmers and firefighters rushed to put out the fires.

The Red Crescent said that 12 Palestinians were taken to hospital after being beaten by settlers in five separate incidents on Saturday.

The violence came after settlers killed a Palestinian on Thursday and another on Friday, according to Palestinian officials.

The violence raises increasing international concern, and Britain recently led the imposition of sanctions on products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal settlements under international law.

For his part, Netanyahu expressed his anger at the criticism, and attributed the violence to a small group of settlers, whom he described as “juvenile delinquents.”

The violence also affected Israelis, as a Palestinian shot and killed a settler in September.