TEL AVIV, Israel — Dozens of Israeli settlers rampaged around a military base in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, setting fires, vandalizing military vehicles, spraying graffiti and attacking soldiers, the military said.

Sunday night’s unrest came after several attacks in the West Bank carried out by Jewish settlers and anger at their arrests by security forces attempting to contain the violence over the past few days.

More than 100 settlers on Wednesday evening entered the West Bank town of Kfar Malik, setting property ablaze and opening fire on Palestinians who tried to stop them, Najeb Rostom, head of the local council, said. Three Palestinians were killed after the military intervened. Israeli security forces arrested five settlers.

Far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has often defended Israelis accused of similar crimes, offered a rare condemnation of Sunday’s violence. “Attacking security forces, security facilities, and IDF soldiers who are our brothers, our protectors, is a red line, and must be dealt with in full severity. We are brothers,” he wrote on X.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid told Israel’s Army radio that the riots were carried out by “Jewish terrorists, gangs of criminals, who feel backed by the (governing) coalition.”

A hard-line supporter of Jewish settlements, Ben-Gvir was previously convicted in Israel of racist incitement and support for terrorist groups, and has called for the deportation of all Arab citizens from Israel. Though once widely shunned by Israel’s politicians, Ben-Gvir’s influence has grown and alongside a shift to the right in the country’s electorate has further emboldened violence from extremist settlers in the West Bank.

Footage on Israeli media showed dozens of young, religious men typically associated with ” hilltop youth,” an extremist movement of Israeli settlers who occupy West Bank hilltops and have been accused of attacking Palestinians and their property. The footage showed security forces using stun grenades as dozens of settlers gathered around the military base just north of Ramallah. The Israeli military released photos of the infrastructure burned in the attack, which it said included “systems that help thwart terrorist attacks and maintain security.”

Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed Monday to “eradicate this violence from the root,” and implored the extremist settlers to remember that many of the security forces are exhausted reservists serving multiple rounds of duty.

Over the past two years of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Palestinian residents in the West Bank have reported a major increase in Israeli checkpoints and delays across the territory. Israel, meanwhile, says threats from the West Bank against its citizens are on the rise.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, and Palestinians want all three territories for their future state. The West Bank is home to some 3 million Palestinians who live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule, and 500,000 Jewish settlers. The international community overwhelmingly considers settlements illegal.

The IDF confirmed overnight into Monday that dozens of Israeli settlers rioted in front of a military base in the central West Bank in protest of the shooting of a 14-year-old that the military is currently looking into if he was shot by an Israeli soldier.

“Dozens of Israeli civilians gathered at the entrance of the Binyamin Regional Brigade Headquarters. The gathering became violent and some of the civilians at the scene attacked the security forces, sprayed pepper spray at them, and vandalized military vehicles,” the IDF said in its statement.

It added that it is aware of a report of one Israeli “who was injured” at the riot.

“The IDF and Israel Police condemn any act of violence against security forces and will operate against any attempt to harm security personnel who are carrying out their duty to protect Israeli civilians,” it added.

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The Civil Administration, an IDF unit that oversees civil matters in the West Bank, demolished structures in an outpost on Monday morning where settlers had assaulted IDF soldiers last week.

The military believes that the settlers who participated in the assault on the Palestinian village of Kafr Malik last week came from the outpost, which was established around two weeks ago.

Three Palestinians were shot dead by the IDF during the clashes in the village.

Israel’s animal rescue organizations have come under exceptional stress since the start of war with Iran on Friday. More Israelis are dumping their pets, none are showing up to adopt any and income is vanishing, they report.

Animal welfare associations are perennially stressed to begin with, but wartime tends to be worse as people fleeing attacks lose or abandon pets, and as animals frightened by alerts, sirens and blasts run away. The war between Israel and Iran is arguably characterized by conflict and stress at a level new to Israelis, and by a spike in animals in trouble, according to animal rescue volunteers.

All the societies Haaretz spoke with report a significant increase in calls from people asking to bring over their pet because they just can’t take care of them anymore. Others call in hope of pet hostelry services, which are generally not on offer. (There are some pet hotels in Israel.)

Open gallery view Two residents of Starting Over Sanctuary in central Israel’s Moshav Herut. Credit: Yael Oren

“On Friday morning, we learned that we are in another war,” says Yael Arkin, the CEO of the Let the Animals Live organization, told Haaretz by phone. “On Sunday morning, when our hotline opened up, suddenly instead of people calling about animals needing medical help –a lot of calls were people trying to get rid of their pets. Calls like that always happen, but we suddenly realized there were more, a lot more – people trying to dump dogs and cats and even a rabbit.”

The problems the animal rescue groups face aren’t confined to city dwellers and their pets. On Sunday, a horse terrified by explosions escaped its enclosure and was found running down a major highway. Startled drivers called the Starting Over Sanctuary in central Israel, says Sharon Cohen, founder and manager.

“Our volunteers managed to locate and stop the horse and contacted the police with the information,” Cohen says. “His owner was located. He hadn’t even been aware the horse was gone.”

The day before, on Saturday, the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Israel in south Tel Aviv fielded four tiny kittens that had been abandoned in a box next to their facility. On Sunday, there were four more, says SPCA spokeswoman Sigal Nesher.

Open gallery view Four tiny kittens that were saved by the SPCA in Tel Aviv. Credit: SPCA

SPCA Israel is almost a century old, and runs nine compounds for dogs and three batteries. The Iran war has created desperate financial straits, she adds. Their sources have completely evaporated: adoptions, seminars, classes and community activities, such as birthday parties for children. Even the annual assistance the SPCA gets from the Environmental Protection Ministry, between 80,000 to 100,000 shekels a year, is up in the air: This year the paperwork never even arrived, Nesher says. Only the animals keep arriving, and the SPCA and its branches are a no-kill organization.

“We have a huge question mark over our heads. If 2,000 people would each donate 50 shekels to us, that would set us up,” Nesher says.

Open gallery view The Israel-Iran war has triggered an influx of dogs abandoned to the SPCA. Credit: SPCA

The timing of the Iran war seems to have been particularly unfortunate for animals in the sense that spring and summer tend to be bad for pets, the rescuers says.

“A lot of people abandon animals in April, because that’s when they travel, and there are fewer adoptions,” Nesher explained. And now as missiles fly and people are fearful and many are unsure where they may be living, or expect to spend a protracted time in army reserves – they don’t want the hassle of feeding, walking and cleaning after the pet as well, and the rescue associations are being overwhelmed.

Open gallery view Cats at the Starting Over Sanctuary Credit: Yael Oren

“All the animal welfare organizations are doing their part now,” says Cohen, and all are having to cope with people begging them to shelter their pets in the cattery or dog pound, theoretically on a temporary basis.

Or they need other help. Starting Over has even fielded desperate calls from people asking for somebody to come help wedge large (and elderly) dogs into the car, because the family can’t pick them up and doesn’t want to abandon them, she says. But too many are tying their dogs by their leash to the door handle of an animal rescue organization or a shop, or leaving cats abandoned in a box with no note.

Open gallery view Rescue kid at Starting Over Sanctuary, with one if its permanent residents. Credit: Yael Oren

Cohen founded Starting Over eight years ago in Moshav Herut, central Israel. With the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, its rescue and welfare farm was inundated with traumatized, burned and injured cats, dogs, donkeys, goats, pigs and more, from both the south and north of the country. Many have been rehomed by this time, but when the Iran war began last week, the progress was reversed.

Can’t take the cat

It’s hard to know how many cats are abandoned. A person abandoning their cat may just move and leave it behind, based on the common perception that cats can “manage” on their own. Dogs, on the other hand, are registered, and you can’t just dump them and drive away – it’s illegal. When they take fright and get lost, dogs can be more easily regained because under Israeli law, they have to be “chipped.”

Of course, this all depends on the owner answering the phone, Cohen notes. But there’s little point in chipping a cat in Israel, a veterinarian told Haaretz: No vet would check for it.

Another problem faced by animals in wartime is that, as tensions mount, schools are closed, parents are in military reserve duty and afraid of rocket attacks at any time – people aren’t taking their pets to the vet, Nesher added. “If the dog is scheduled to get a shot, he’ll have to wait,” she says.

Open gallery view Volunteer David negotiating with free-range rescue cats in the entrance to one of the closed cat rooms, at the Starting Over Sanctuary. Credit: Yael Oren

With income shrinking and donations from visitors nonexistent, and volunteers arriving in smaller numbers because of reduced public transportation, the only thing that’s rising is the numbers of animals, Nesher says. “We are losing money every day,” from clinic visits that don’t happen (but the clinic running costs continue), birthday parties left uncelebrated, seminars not held, adoption packages that don’t go through.

In fact, animal adoptions in Israel have been declining since October 7, Arkin says. “We associate the trend to a lot of things, mainly economic stress, and [the trend of] buying breed dogs.” And since the war with Iran began, calls to dump dogs have more than doubled.

Open gallery view A sleepy dog waiting to be adopted at the SPCA’s Tel Aviv shelter. Credit: SPCA

“Very few cats,” Arkin adds. But in about 20 percent of cases, she estimates, they can be persuaded to change their mind.

If a person has had a dog for years, by the time they have called an association to come take it, they are in extreme stress. Offering genuine help, for instance, even just to cover food costs for a month or medical care for the pet, can make the difference, Arkin says. “We can help with training. If a dog is terrified during the alerts and develops a behavioral condition, often a meeting with a vet or trainer or a medication can help, reducing the stress for the family.”

Open gallery view A female with heterochromatic eyes at Starting Over Sanctuary Credit: Yael Oren

Open gallery view Kittens left at the SPCA shelter in Tel Aviv Credit: SPCA

Let the Animals Live even has a program to help people adopt old dogs from the age of 8 and above, or dogs with medical problems. The adoption is free, and in the case of those who are sick, they receive free medical care for life, Arkin says.

She adds that in the last year, people adopted more cats than dogs, and return rates were lower.

“A person who adopts a cat means it – they’re usually people who know what a cat is, and are intent on their purpose,” she muses. Families are like, oh everybody has a dog, let’s get one too, dog! And then a siren goes off and it does on the floor and.

To contact Let the Animals Live shelter, Israelis can call 03-624-1776, extension 3. To make donations, anybody from anywhere can call +972-3-624-1776, extension 2.

To contact the SPCA Israel, which is hoping to raise 50 shekels from 2,000 people while the government is preoccupied, click here.

To contact Starting Over Sanctuary, visit their Facebook page.