American journalist, Palestinians injured in clashes with masked Israeli settlers in West Bank

Several Palestinians and an American photojournalist working for the Washington Post were injured after a group of masked Israeli men attacked Palestinians harvesting olives in the West Bank, according to videos, eyewitnesses and Palestinian authorities.

Video of the incident obtained by CBS News showed a group of around 20 masked men clad in black or gray clothes descending a hill from the area of an Israeli settlement outpost into an olive grove near the Palestinian village of Abu Falah.

Another video from the incident showed two vehicles set on fire and a Palestinian man with a bloodied face being escorted away from the area by a woman and a man.

Among the injured was Heidi Levine, a veteran American photojournalist working with the Washington Post.

Video shared by the Israel-based Foreign Press Association showed Levine was surrounded by masked men, pushed to the ground and beaten, and her camera equipment taken from her.

While Levine was on the ground, the video showed the masked men throwing stones and firing slingshots at  Palestinians, who then responded by throwing stones themselves.

Levine was taken to a hospital in Ramallah for medical treatment. Footage of Levine in her hospital bed showed she had a large wound on one of her legs and one of her hands had been bandaged.

"I was attacked, pushed to the ground. Luckily I had my flak jacket and helmet, otherwise I probably wouldn't even be here, because they just kept kicking and kicking me," Levine said from her hospital bed.

In a statement, the Washington Post confirmed the attack, saying Levine "was knocked to the ground, repeatedly kicked and robbed of her cameras and phone despite wearing a protective vest marked 'PRESS' and a helmet."

Israel's police and military said they had opened investigations into the incident.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement Friday condemning the violence but added the facts surrounding the incident "remain unclear."

"Footage shows masked individuals on both sides hurling objects, amid reports of fireworks fired at Jewish youths," the statement said. "Other footage appears to show Levine knocked down and immediately helped to her feet by the same unidentified individual. The investigation must establish the facts, including who initiated the violence." 

The Israeli military said its forces used riot control measures to disperse the confrontation. The military added that soldiers fired warning shots in the air and also fired toward a suspect who ran toward soldiers holding "a sharp object and posed a threat to them."

"The Israel Defense Forces strongly condemns this incident and views any manifestation of violence with utmost severity. Attempts to incite friction between populations undermine security in the area," the Israeli military said.

A U.S. Embassy spokesperson said they are monitoring the situation and talk regularly with partners about improving security in the area.

"We condemn criminal violence by any party in the West Bank and call for investigations, arrests, and convictions, of those responsible," the U.S. Embassy's statement said.

The Binyamin Regional Council, an Israeli governmental body responsible for settlements in the area of the clashes, said the Palestinian Authority had sent activists to deliberately provoke residents of the Israeli settlement outpost near Abu Falah. 

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it treated three Palestinians for injuries at Abu Falah. The wounded included a man who had been shot in the thigh, according to WAFA, the official media arm of the Palestinian Authority.

Clashes between Israeli settlers and Palestinian olive pickers also took place on Friday near the villages of Burqa and Turmus Ayya, which are located in the central West Bank, WAFA reported. The Palestine Red Crescent treated four people for injuries sustained at the clashes near Burqa, WAFA said.

Attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank have surged in recent years, particularly after the establishment of Israel's current hard-right government in late 2022, according to statistics released by the United Nations humanitarian office.

Netanyahu has condemned the violence and vowed a crackdown against what he says is a small group of several hundred wayward youths responsible for attacks on Palestinians.

Despite those public promises by Netanyahu, the violence has continued in recent weeks.

Human rights groups and critics say the government is complicit in the attacks and that Netanyahu's condemnation appears to be posturing since the Israeli military often intervenes on the settlers' side and the perpetrators are rarely prosecuted.

Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, last month condemned Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, calling the behavior an "act of terror" as he visited with Palestinian American residents shaken by months of attacks.

Over the past 18 days, Yesh Din, an Israeli settlement monitoring group, says it has documented 486 violent incidents against Palestinians across 181 different Palestinian localities, and that 234 of these incidents were related to the olive harvest.

In August, three journalists from NBC and a Palestinian woman they were interviewing were attacked by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.