CNN's Israel correspondent, Jeremy Diamond, said Tuesday that his crew was attacked by "violent settlers" while in the West Bank this week to cover the killing of 20-year-old Palestinian-American Saif Muslet, who was brutally beaten to death by Israelis near Ramallah last Friday, as reports of unchecked Jewish extremist attacks in the region continue to mount.
Israeli settlers also attacked a 65-year-old Palestinian man at his home in the southern West Bank on Monday morning, and set cars on fire in the village of Burqa, near Ramallah, overnight.
"Saif Maslat was only 20 years old. He owned an ice cream shop with his father in Tampa. On Friday, Israeli settlers beat him to death, according to his family," journalist Diamond tweeted, referring to "our (CNN) interview with his grieving father and his quest for justice."
"While covering this story, my team and I were attacked by Israeli settlers. The rear window of our car was shattered, but we were able to escape unharmed. This is just a small part of the reality facing many Palestinians in the West Bank amid escalating settler violence," Diamond added.
According to CNN, the coverage team was attacked on Sunday while traveling to the town of Sinjil, where 20-year-old Saif al-Din Kamil Abd al-Karim Maslat was killed during a violent settler raid on Friday.
According to the report, the crew was on its way to the site of Maslat's killing when a white car carrying at least four masked settlers began following them.
The report added that the settlers initially tried to "throw stones" at the reporters' vehicle as it approached an intersection, but fled after the crew approached a Border Police vehicle.
After police went to search for the attackers, settlers, who had been hiding, ambushed the team, according to CNN. One of the settlers used "some kind of club or hammer" to hit the car, breaking its windows as the crew fled the scene. Israeli police told CNN that they are investigating the attack and taking it "very seriously."
The Foreign Press Association condemned the incident in a statement, accusing the authorities of turning a blind eye to the violence, noting that journalists from the German daily Deutsche Welle were injured in an attack by settlers in the same area earlier this month.
"In each of these incidents, settlers attacked in broad daylight. However, we are not aware of any arrests yet. This comes at a time when our Palestinian colleagues routinely face threats, intimidation, and violence at the hands of settlers and security forces, while the foreign press is routinely defamed by some Israeli public figures," the association said.
The statement also accused the authorities of preventing journalists from entering refugee camps in the northern West Bank, where "tens of thousands of Palestinians have been expelled in recent months" amid Israeli operations.
It is noteworthy that the Israeli occupation army has killed more than 230 Palestinian journalists in the war of extermination it has been waging on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2025, until now.
The family of the Palestinian-American man said in a statement issued by attorney Diana Halloum following the deadly attack that Saif Muslet, who was born and lives in Florida, had traveled to the West Bank last month to spend time with relatives. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said he was killed on Friday in the village of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, after being severely beaten. Another man, Mohammed Rizq Hussein al-Shalabi, 23, died after being shot during the attack and "left to bleed for hours," according to the Palestinian Authority.
Israeli occupation authorities claimed that the violence erupted after Palestinians threw stones at a group of Israelis, slightly injuring two civilians. However, according to Palestinian accounts, settlers instigated the clash when Palestinians attempted to protest the establishment of a new illegal settlement outpost adjacent to the village of Sinjil, one of dozens of settlement outposts that have rapidly spread throughout the West Bank with little enforcement from Israeli authorities.
On Saturday, police announced the arrest of six people in connection with the incident, including two settlers and an Israeli army reserve soldier. Reports indicated that settlers set fire to vehicles and assaulted a man in a home's courtyard, but so far, Israeli authorities have not confirmed the arrest of any of the killers.
Settlers were also accused of setting fire to Palestinian property in Burqa, a Palestinian town east of Ramallah, where settlers have carried out increasing attacks on Palestinians and launched what appears to be an organized campaign to expel Bedouin shepherds from their lands.
Human rights groups have denounced the escalation in settler violence in the West Bank, which Israel has controlled and occupied since 1967. The United Nations said such attacks against Palestinians occur amid a climate of "impunity."
"Israeli settlers and security forces have intensified killings, attacks and harassment of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in recent weeks," a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights told reporters on Tuesday.
Last June, the United Nations announced the highest monthly number of Palestinian casualties in the West Bank in more than two decades.
According to the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health, Israeli occupation authorities killed more than 950 Palestinians in the West Bank during that period. The Israeli military claims that "the vast majority of them were militants killed in exchanges of fire, rioters clashing with troops, or terrorists carrying out attacks," without providing any evidence.
At least three Palestinian Americans have been killed by Israeli occupation forces since February, without any accountability.
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CNN crew attacked by settlers in the occupied West Bank