Over 100 Israeli Settlers Storm West Bank Village As Home Burns And Christian Land Dispute Escalates

Over 100 Israeli settlers stormed the West Bank village of Deir Jarir under Israeli force protection Thursday in an escalation of the land rights dispute between the Catholic Church and Israel, sources say.

Read more OK Boomer: Neocons Used Landline Phones To Poll Young MAGA Voters

At the time of publication, the village, east of Ramallah, was facing an ongoing attack as settlers poured into the village in force, the Vulnerable People Project (VPP) told the Daily Caller based on information gathered by field monitors tracking the situation in real time. (RELATED: Israel Could Be Propagandizing Christians At A Church Near You. Here’s How)

Video shared by VPP shows more than two dozen men running down a hill as they approach the village.

Another video, taken from inside a house, shows the men as they arrived in Deir Jarir.

The village assault was initiated after a settler allegedly attacked a Palestinian vehicle and those occupying it. The driver, while attempting to escape, struck the settler with his vehicle while fleeing, according to information gathered by VPP.

In response, Israeli forces allegedly sealed the entrance gate to Deir Jarir, trapping residents inside as the situation escalated, VPP said.

The organization said that large numbers of radical settlers known as the Hilltop Youth and Israeli troops reportedly converged on the village, flooding the streets as they invaded Palestinian homes, destroyed cars, smashed windows, and wrecked personal belongings. VPP said one home had even been set on fire as residents remained trapped within the village and more settlers continued to arrive.

“Right now, as I speak, families in Deir Jarir are trapped behind a gate the army has locked while settlers flood the village and set a home on fire — and this is happening one hill over from Taybeh,” said Jason Jones, founder of VPP, referring to the last all-Christian town in the West Bank.

Read more Lance Twiggs Says Tyler Robinson Admitted To Murdering Charlie Kirk

(Image obtained by the Daily Caller through the Vulnerable People Project)

“We have warned for weeks that the noose was tightening around Taybeh and its neighbors. This is that warning coming true in real time,” Jones said.

Jones told the Caller in May that Israeli military officials had allegedly attempted to halt a Catholic Marian festival in Taybeh, a village directly beside Deir Jarir.

An Israeli military vehicle entered the village of Taybeh early in the morning and ordered festival organizers to leave the area. The organizers immediately reached out to the Catholic Church’s Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who spoke with Israeli authorities and eventually secured permission for the festival to proceed.

Pizzaballa had similar troubles during the week leading up to Easter, as a celebratory Mass was put on hold, prompting an apology from the Office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Under the direction of Pizzaballa, leaders of the Catholic Church in Jerusalem sent local authorities a formal complaint in April claiming that Israeli settlers’ encroachments on Church-owned land in the West Bank had crossed a “red line.” (RELATED: The Vatican Weighs CCP Deal As Beijing Disappears Bishops, Appoints State-Backed Clergy)

“A house is burning with people sealed inside the village, and every minute of delay is measured in lives,” Jones said. “The world cannot afford to learn what happened tomorrow. It has to act tonight — observers, diplomats, phone calls to the highest levels — before this attack claims lives and reaches the last Christian town in the West Bank.”

Read more Court Holds Federal Law Bars States From Giving Illegal Aliens In-State Tuition