Israeli settlers burned homes and cars in West Bank villages, wounding several Palestinians, as the army condemned violence after the fact.
JALUD: Israeli settlers torched buildings and vehicles in overnight attacks on several West Bank villages, Palestinian residents and officials said Sunday.
The Israeli army later condemned “violence of any kind” after the assaults, which left several Palestinians wounded.
AFP journalists saw the charred remains of a house and several cars in the village of Fandaqumiya, southwest of Jenin. In Jalud, a medical centre was burned and Hebrew graffiti was daubed on a mosque.
Hassan Al-Zoubi, whose Fandaqumiya home was destroyed, told AFP that some 200 assailants came from the nearby settlement of Homesh. “They set the house on fire right before our eyes using Molotov cocktails, throwing them through the windows,” Zoubi said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said ten people were wounded in a separate settler attack in Deir al-Hatab near Nablus on Sunday. One person was shot in the foot and six others were physically assaulted.
The Israeli army said soldiers were “dispatched to several Palestinian villages… following reports of Israeli civilians committing acts of arson against structures and property”. “The security forces condemn violence of any kind and will continue to act to maintain the security of residents and public order,” a military statement said.
The incidents followed an army report that an Israeli civilian died Saturday when a Palestinian vehicle reportedly “hit an Israeli vehicle”. Israeli police are investigating whether it was “terror-related”.
The Palestinian presidency condemned the “terrorist attacks carried out by Israeli colonist gangs”. “These assaults constitute a serious escalation for which the Israeli occupation government bears full responsibility,” it said.
Diplomats from 13 European nations and Canada on Saturday decried “increasing settler terror”, saying violent attempts to seize Palestinian land “must end”.
Since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, six Palestinians have been shot dead in settler attacks in the West Bank, according to a tally from the Ramallah-based health ministry.
Violence in the West Bank has risen sharply since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack triggered the Gaza war. At least 1,050 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the territory since then, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian figures.
Official Israeli figures say 45 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during military operations in the same period.