WEST BANK (Dispatches) – In a rare public denunciation of settler attacks on Palestinians from within the Zionist regime’s military establishment - retiring chief of the occupying regime’s military’s central command, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox, said that settler crimes had recently “reared its head.” 
Fox’s statement came after a week of particularly intense attacks on Palestinians in the volatile territory. Violence by settlers has flared since the outbreak of the Zionist aggression. The UN has documented over 1,000 settler attacks since the war began.
 “This is not Judaism in my eyes. At least not the one I grew up with in my father and mother’s house. This is not the way of the Torah. It is adopting the ways of the enemy,” Fox said.
Zionist troops and settlers have inreased increased raids on Palestinian towns and villages in the occupied West Bank since the regime’s war in Gaza began in October.
Since October, at least 553 Palestinians have been killed by Zionist troops and settlers in the territory, and 9,510 have been detained, according to Palestinian officials.
Fox’s comments come just days after Israel’s regime approved 5,295 new housing units in a host of illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank.
About 3 million Palestinians live in the occupied West Bank, and more than 500,000 Israelis reside in more than 100 settlements across the territory. The expansion of settlements remains a major roadblock to since-halted plans outlined in the Oslo Accords that promised the gradual transfer of Israeli-occupied areas to Palestinians.
Zionist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, has overseen a major escalation in settlement expansion under prime minister Netanyahu’s leadership.
Fox acknowledged that it was his responsibility as the chief of the command in charge of the occupied West Bank region, “to act” and tackle this settler expansion and violence but regretted that he “did not always succeed.”
“The Central Command’s ability to fulfill its tasks also depends on the existence of a functioning and strong Palestinian Authority, with effective security mechanisms that maintain law and order. Proactively undermining the security reality on this front endangers the security of Israel,” Fox added.
On Tuesday, the Israeli Army Radio reported that 340 settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been recorded since the beginning of 2024.