Star Metro - Israeli settlers beat AFP photographer covering West Bank

Jaafar Ashtiyeh, 58, a veteran photographer for the international news agency in the Palestinian territory, suffered bruises to his head and torso and was taken by ambulance to a hospital, according to witnesses, his family and fellow journalists.

Ashtiyeh and another AFP photographer, John Wessels, were near the northern village of Aqraba where they noticed an Israeli soldier detaining a man as local Palestinians picked olives.

A quad bike suddenly raced towards the AFP journalists on top of the hill and a man from it opened live fire, with one Palestinian dropping to the ground. He was also hospitalised, with a gunshot to the foot, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

At least six other people then rushed towards the AFP journalists firing guns. As Ashtiyeh attempted to enter a car, two men jumped on him and beat him repeatedly with guns.

"I could hear his screams," said Wessels, who was also threatened at gunpoint.

Ashtiyeh, who is Palestinian, is conscious and under 24-hour supervision at a hospital in Nablus, where he will undergo X-rays, said his son, Zain Jaafar.

The assailants also took his camera equipment, Wessels said.

The violence took place despite the presence of at least a dozen fully equipped Israeli soldiers around 500 metres away, according to Wessels.

The man who initially fired the gun was wearing a long white shirt as well as military fatigue trousers and boots, which are commonly worn by soldiers, Wessels said.

AFP has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.

"We strongly condemn yet another serious attack on journalists trying to report on events in the West Bank and demand a full investigation. It is unacceptable that journalists can be beaten and robbed by armed settlers in front of Israeli security forces who made no attempt to intervene," said Phil Chetwynd, AFP's global news director.

Violence has flared in recent months in the West Bank with near-daily attacks, thefts or vandalism by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.

There have also been attacks against Israelis, with a Palestinian shooting dead a settler last month.

Extremist Israeli settlers have been seizing olive groves owned by Palestinians, who see the trees as a cultural symbol.

Some 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, which Israel captured in 1967, among three million Palestinians. Settlements in occupied territory are illegal under international law.

Media rights groups say that Israeli settlers have increasingly targeted journalists and that authorities have imposed growing impediments to coverage.

Israeli authorities have detained 19 journalists in the West Bank, including one AFP contributor, in the three years since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Gaza-based Hamas, according to Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.

O.Poirier--SMC