A 63-year-old photographer for The Washington Post has sustained fractures and various injuries due to an assault by a group of extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. 

Heidi Levine stated that her protective helmet likely saved her life when she was brutally attacked by approximately 15 masked Zionist settlers while documenting the olive harvest in the Palestinian village of Khirbet Abu Falah, located north of Ramallah, on Friday.

The violent incident resulted in her equipment being damaged and heightened concerns about the risks journalists face while reporting in the West Bank.

“I saw them attacking from about 500 meters away,” Levine remarked, referring to the masked group.

As they approached, she attempted to retreat with her gear, but the assailants caught up, pushed her to the ground, and struck her on the head.

“They kicked me at least 15 times,” she recounted, explaining that the attack lasted about 10 minutes before they knocked her down again.

Levine emphasized that she tried to protect her camera and other equipment during the assault, which resulted in her phone and other belongings, including the earphone cable she was wearing, being destroyed.

“Had it not been for my helmet, I wouldn’t be alive here,” she stated.

Israeli forces, settlers intensify attacks across occupied West Bank

Israeli forces and extremist settlers have carried out a series of new raids and attacks across the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian journalists and medical teams hurried to assist Levine following the attack, first taking her to a medical center in Khirbet Abu Falah and later transferring her to a nearby hospital for further treatment.

She mentioned that she has been reporting on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for at least three decades, and this was the second time she had been attacked by illegal settlers while on assignment.

She recalled a similar incident from about 15 years ago near the Israeli settlement of Havat Gilad, which occurred in the presence of Israeli military and security forces.

Addressing the parents of the attackers, Levine questioned how individuals could be raised to commit such acts of violence.

“How can parents raise these human monsters instead of human beings?” she asked.

Since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza three years ago, there has been an increase in attacks by settlers throughout the occupied Palestinian territory.

International human rights organizations have condemned the Israeli regime for enabling settler violence in an effort to expand its control over Palestinian land.