WEST BANK, Aug 29 - A group of Israeli settlers smashed last night, the windows of a number of vehicles near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the city of al-Khalil in the southern West Bank.

Settlers' attacks have escalated against Palestinian families and their properties, in the vicinity of the settlement outposts inside the Old City of al-Khalil, the sources pointed out.

It is noteworthy that the occupation forces closed, last night, the Tel Rumeida area and Al-Shuhada Street in the center of al-Khalil, and prevented Palestinians from entering and leaving through the military checkpoints that surround the area, forcing them to wait hours in front of these checkpoints before they were allowed to reach their homes.

The city of al-Khalil suffers from the presence of more than fifty outposts in which about thirty thousand settlers live, working to strengthen the comprehensive grip on the city.

The occupation government and the settlement groups are racing against time to seize the largest amount of land possible, establish more settlements, and build roads.

Since the occupation of al-Khalil in 1967 and the construction of the “Kiryat Arba” settlement, the occupation has sought to turn the old city in al-Khalil into a settlement, helped by the Oslo agreement dividing the city into two parts, which put al-Khalil and the Ibrahimi Mosque completely under the occupation’s control.