"Olive Leaf"... Israeli police arrest 10 people in a campaign against settler violence in the West Bank

(CNN) - The Israeli police announced, on Monday, the arrest of at least 10 suspects, as part of a campaign to combat settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

The police stated that the operation was called “Olive Leaf,” in apparent reference to the start of the olive harvest season in the West Bank, which witnessed an escalation in settler attacks. On Friday, settlers attacked veteran Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levin, requiring her to be taken to the hospital, while she was accompanying a group of Palestinians at the beginning of the olive harvest season. The next day, settlers attacked a group of European diplomats who were visiting the Palestinian town of Taybeh, which has a Christian majority.

The police explained that the security forces worked in coordination with the Israeli army to locate the suspects and arrest them in the area where the attacks occurred. The police said: “During this operation, 10 suspects were arrested, evidence linking them to the incidents was seized, and several vehicles were confiscated.”

Moshe Pinshi, an Israeli police official, said in a statement: “We are working to collect evidence, clues and testimonies, and build an evidence base that will allow those involved to be brought to justice.”

For his part, the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, welcomed the arrests, describing them as "a very positive development in finding and punishing the people who severely beat Heidi Levine."

Despite the existence of a video documenting the assault on Levin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to cast doubt on the incident, saying in its aftermath that “serious questions still remain.”