In the aftermath of the Jenin raid and the shooting operations in Jerusalem, Israeli government officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have called for swift and sweeping policies of retribution across the occupied Palestinian territory – promising increased punitive home demolitions and other measures meant to target the families of Palestinians who carry out attacks against Israelis. 

But despite the government’s moves towards more collective punishment, the tension on the ground continues to swell, and shows no signs of stopping.

The past three days have been some of the deadliest recorded in the occupied Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem in years. Here is a full breakdown of what has transpired.

On Monday, January 16, Ahmad Kahla, 41, was killed in cold blood by Israeli soldiers at a temporary military checkpoint in the West Bank, just feet from his 20-year-old son. The anguish felt by Kahla’s family stems not only from the sorrow of loss, but from the fact that Ahmad’s killer would be standing at the same checkpoint the next day.

Israeli settler violence against Palestinians soared in 2022. Palestinians say the worrying trend will only worsen as right-wing extremists make their home in Israel’s new government.

The harrowing video capturing the Israeli border police officer shooting a Palestinian in Huwwara has circulated widely on social media and sparked outrage among Palestinians, who are calling it an “execution.”

Mohammad Huraini was with his father, Hafez, when he was attacked by Israeli settlers as he attempted to work his land. Now, as Hafez sits in an Israeli prison, Mohammad writes about what happened that day and what it means for the ongoing struggle in Masafar Yatta. “Every day, we face this injustice and apartheid not only from the settlers, soldiers, or police, but from the entire system that uses violence to hurt us, steal our land and imprison us,” he writes. “We cannot stay silent, and we must let the world know what is happening.”

While he was working on his land, a group of Israeli settlers armed with sticks, metal pipes, and M16s attacked Hafez Huraini and his son Muhammad. Hafez was badly injured, and both of his arms were broken. When a Palestinian ambulance arrived to evacuate him, the settlers slashed the tires, but the Israeli soldiers arrested Huraini, claiming he had hurt one of the settlers.

Settler violence in Hebron exposes the true colonial face of the Zionist project, and the world cannot sit idly by while it continues.

On Saturday, in the occupied West Bank, Amjad Abu Alia was killed by Israeli fire during a demonstration in his town of al-Mughayyir, north of Ramallah. Eyewitnesses claim that Abu Alia was shot by fire that came from the direction of Israeli settlers, who were documented shooting and throwing rocks at Palestinians in the area.

Israeli settlers stabbed a Palestinian man to death on Tuesday evening in the northern occupied West Bank district of Salfit. Witnesses say settlement security guard fired shots into the air as a group of settlers began assaulting Palestinians in the area. During this attack one settler approached Ali Harb, 27, and stabbed him directly in the heart.

Cracks in apartheid’s firewall: Seven establishment Jewish groups including the Anti-Defamation League sent a letter to Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett saying Enough’s enough, take action against settler violence; it is “undermining Israel’s image and relations with the U.S. government.” I.e., we can’t do our job of selling Israel in the U.S. with this sort of publicity. The complaint is of a piece with liberal Zionist Jeremy Ben-Ami’s “rant” on twitter about a “horrific” week of violence against Palestinians. These organizations know that the Democratic base is getting sick of supporting Israel as it commits human rights violations.