Settler attack in West Bank leaves Palestinians dead, injured
Dozens of Jewish settlers attacked the Palestinian village of Jit on Thursday evening in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The assailants set houses and cars on fire, killing at least one person and severely injuring another, local authorities reported.
6:31 AM EDT, August 16, 2024
At least one person was killed and another critically injured by gunfire from Jewish settlers. Three other Palestinians were lightly injured after being pelted with stones by the assailants, the Palestinian health ministry reported on Thursday.
A group of approximately 50 masked settlers set fire to at least four houses and six cars on Thursday, according to Times of Israel, citing Israeli officials.
Israeli military and border guard units arrived at the scene and removed the settlers from the village. Soldiers fired shots into the air to disperse the assailants, military sources reported.
One Israeli citizen was arrested, and police and security services have launched an investigation.
Regular attacks on Palestinian population
This is the latest in a series of violent attacks by Jewish settlers on the Palestinian population of the West Bank. Palestinians regularly complain that Israeli soldiers and police protect settlers, and their actions go unpunished.
At the end of July, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the government to increase protection for Palestinians from settler violence and criticized the police for taking insufficient measures. The issue is also drawing growing international criticism. The USA, EU, and other countries have recently imposed sanctions on some radical settler groups.
Israeli politicians condemned Thursday's attack and vowed to pursue the perpetrators
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured that he would treat the attack "with severity" and promised that "those responsible for any crime will be caught and prosecuted." As noted by Times of Israel, the prime minister's statement treated the attack more "as a misguided attempt to fight terror rather than as terrorism itself." - Those who fight terrorism are only the IDF and security forces, not anyone else, Netanyahu emphasized.
"This is an extreme minority that harms the law-abiding community of [settlers] and the settlement movement as a whole, in addition to harming the global reputation of Israel during a particularly sensitive and difficult period," President Isaac Herzog stated.
"They are criminals who should be dealt with to the full extent of the law by law enforcement authorities. [We] strongly disagree with any display of criminal anarchist violence that has absolutely nothing to do with love of the land and settlement of it," said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also responsible for settler policy. Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, is known for supporting the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
