Israeli settlers attacked a vehicle scrapyard in Huwara, northern West Bank, setting dozens of cars ablaze; the scrapyard owner estimated about 150 vehicles were torched or damaged. The incident occurred the same evening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a security meeting on escalating settler violence, which he blamed on "a small, extremist group." The IDF reported no injuries and said searches produced no suspects; the attack follows several recent arson incidents in the West Bank and recalls large-scale violence in Huwara in 2023.
Settlers Torch Huwara Scrapyard, Damaging Around 150 Vehicles as Netanyahu Holds Security Meeting
Israeli settlers attacked a vehicle scrapyard in Huwara, northern West Bank, setting dozens of cars ablaze; the scrapyard owner estimated about 150 vehicles were torched or damaged. The incident occurred the same evening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a security meeting on escalating settler violence, which he blamed on "a small, extremist group." The IDF reported no injuries and said searches produced no suspects; the attack follows several recent arson incidents in the West Bank and recalls large-scale violence in Huwara in 2023.
10:17 AM, 11/21/2025Conflict
Israeli settlers set fire to a vehicle scrapyard in the town of Huwara in the northern West Bank, torching dozens of cars in an attack that came the same evening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a security meeting on rising settler violence.
Witnesses and WAFA, the Palestinian official news agency, reported that more than a dozen settlers descended on the scrapyard, smashing vehicles and starting large blazes. Video footage shows many cars ablaze as firefighters worked to extinguish the flames, with thick black smoke filling the night sky.
Scrapyard owner Mohammed Dalal told reporters that no one was at the site when the attack occurred and estimated roughly 150 vehicles were torched or otherwise damaged. "I have children in university, I have grandchildren, I have a family; we all depend on this scrapyard," he said, describing the scrapyard as his family's primary source of income.
"Like many Palestinians, I have olive trees, but I haven’t been able to harvest my olives and so this is our only source of income. All I can do is ask God to compensate us." — Mohammed Dalal
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said soldiers were dispatched to Huwara after reports that Israeli civilians had thrown rocks at Palestinian vehicles and set fire to property. The IDF confirmed vehicles had been set ablaze near the settlement of Yitzhar — a community long associated with extremist settlers — and reported that no injuries were recorded and searches had not identified any suspects.
The incident arrived amid growing concern over a surge in settler attacks across the West Bank. Officials say the violence has intensified in recent weeks and months, including recent arson attacks south of Bethlehem and a large fire in an agricultural area in the northern West Bank the previous week.
Last year, Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that Israel would no longer use administrative detention against Israeli settlers, removing a tool security services previously used to detain suspects without charge while the measure continues to be applied widely against Palestinians. On the same day as the scrapyard attack, Netanyahu described the perpetrators as "a small, extremist group," though it was not immediately clear whether the security meeting produced concrete new steps.
Huwara has been targeted before. In June 2023, settlers rampaged through the town in an assault that killed one Palestinian man and wounded many others — an episode later described by a former IDF chief as a "pogrom." That earlier violence was framed by some attackers as revenge after a Palestinian gunman killed two nearby brothers.
The arson at the scrapyard underscores the economic and human toll of continuing attacks: beyond the immediate property damage, owners and families who rely on these businesses face long-term loss of income and livelihood.