On December 13, 2025 in Jaffa, Israel, a pregnant Arab Palestinian woman and her children were attacked and sprayed with pepper spray by individuals described as Jewish attackers or settlers while in their car. The incident sparked protests by hundreds of Arab residents in the city, denouncing the assault as racist violence. Israeli police opened an investigation, though no immediate arrests were reported. The attack has been widely cited as an example of rising tensions and settler-related violence in mixed cities like Jaffa.

The main victim is a nine-month-pregnant Palestinian/Arab Israeli woman, 30-year-old, called Hanan Abu Shehadeh.

On December 14, dozen of protesters marched to the site of the attack while chanting: “Tell the Shin Bet dogs we’re not afraid of conflict,” referring to Israel’s internal security agency. Speaking to the protesters, former Knesset member and former Tel Aviv-Jaffa council member Sami Abu Shehadeh accused the government of complicity in the attack, which he said included verbal abuse and spitting on the woman: “This assault is not an individual incident, but rather a new episode in a systematic policy targeting the people of Jaffa and our Palestinian nation at large.".

At least 10 Palestinians from Yaffa were arrested by Israeli occupation police over their participation in a protest condemning the settlers’ attack on a pregnant woman and her children yesterday.

On December 13, 2025 in Jaffa, Israel, a pregnant Arab Palestinian woman and her children were attacked and sprayed with pepper spray by individuals described as Jewish attackers or settlers while in their car. The incident sparked protests by hundreds of Arab residents in the city, denouncing the assault as racist violence. Israeli police opened an investigation, though no immediate arrests were reported. The attack has been widely cited as an example of rising tensions and settler-related violence in mixed cities like Jaffa.

On December 14, dozen of protesters marched to the site of the attack while chanting: “Tell the Shin Bet dogs we’re not afraid of conflict,” referring to Israel’s internal security agency. Speaking to the protesters, former Knesset member and former Tel Aviv-Jaffa council member Sami Abu Shehadeh accused the government of complicity in the attack, which he said included verbal abuse and spitting on the woman: “This assault is not an individual incident, but rather a new episode in a systematic policy targeting the people of Jaffa and our Palestinian nation at large.".

At least 10 Palestinians from Yaffa were arrested by Israeli occupation police over their participation in a protest condemning the settlers’ attack on a pregnant woman and her children yesterday.

On December 16, the attackers were arrested by Israeli police, and the Tel Aviv court has extended their detention for five days. The three settlers are affiliated with the Hilltop Youth terrorist group and are banned from entering the West Bank.

B'tselem investigation and statement:

Last Saturday, 13 December, three Israeli settler teens attacked a nine-month pregnant Palestinian woman and her children in Jaffa. According to the Israeli police, the attackers are settler youth from the West Bank. The three are apparently linked to the local “garin torani” or “religious hub” – state-funded religious-nationalist settler centers, many of them established in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods inside Israel in order to assert Jewish dominance and control over the urban space. Hundreds of Jaffa residents launched a protest against the ongoing violence by the “garin”, demanding the arrest of the attackers. Under the leadership of Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, the police chose instead to arrest the Palestinian protesters. Seventeen residents were detained, including several religious and community leaders. Only after significant public pressure generated by the protests and by a strike led by Jaffa residents, were the Palestinian detainees released and the attackers arrested. These events in Jaffa show once again that violence and oppression against Palestinians take different forms in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and inside Israel, but are all part of the same system. Israel’s apartheid regime, which controls the entire area between the river and the sea, and is working in various ways to entrench Jewish supremacy. Violence, dispossession, seizure of space, cultural and political repression and systemic discrimination are all viewed as legitimate tools in Israel. The Israeli authorities’ support and encouragement of these settler hubs within Israel make it clear: they are not a fringe phenomenon, but state policy across all the territories under Israeli control."