West Bank

A series of attacks by Israeli settlers on European diplomats and an American journalist in the occupied West Bank has sparked condemnation from the European Union and raised concerns about the safety of foreign nationals and Palestinians in the territory. The incidents, which occurred during the olive harvest season, come weeks before Israel heads to the polls on October 27.

Two separate but simultaneous crises unfolded on Saturday as masked Israeli settlers attacked European diplomats in the occupied West Bank, assaulting a French mayor and damaging vehicles, while Iran's navy reported oil tanker fires in the Sea of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz.

The European Union has condemned Israeli settler attacks on EU diplomats and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, calling for accountability and an end to settlement expansion, as a surge in violence during the olive harvest season draws international concern. The condemnation follows weekend attacks in which masked Israeli settlers assaulted a French mayor and targeted diplomats from France, Belgium and Poland, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Israel to take stronger action after an American photojournalist was beaten.

Israeli police have opened an investigation after a group of masked settlers attacked a European diplomatic delegation in the occupied West Bank, seriously injuring a French mayor and damaging a Belgian consular car in what critics say is a major escalation of settler violence during the olive harvest. Bernard Baudoux, the mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in northern France, was repeatedly kicked and beaten with iron bars by a group of seven assailants, one of whom shouted 'Vive la France' as he was thrown to the ground. The delegation, which included the Belgian and Polish consuls general and Catholic archbishop Vincent Dollmann, had travelled to the Christian village of Taybeh to assess conditions for Palestinian farmers facing near-daily settler attacks.

Israeli settlers attacked residents in the West Bank village of Ma'in on Saturday, injuring six people including four women and a child, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said, in a series of assaults on Palestinian olive farmers documented by Al Jazeera. The attacks, which Al Jazeera's correspondent described as part of a campaign, have seen Israeli forces firing on pickers, arresting landowners, and settlers destroying trees and livestock.

Doctors at Beit Jala Government Hospital, the only government hospital in Bethlehem governorate, are reporting shortages of chemotherapy drugs, staff on half salaries and cancer patients regressing after missing appointments, as the occupied West Bank's healthcare system rapidly deteriorates under the collapse of Palestinian Authority finances.