Casualties as settlers protected by Israeli troops storm West Bank village

More than 100 illegal Israeli settlers, some wearing masks, have attacked a Palestinian village near the city of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, burning cars and killing at least one person, authorities said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Thursday that one Palestinian was killed and another critically wounded by armed Israeli settlers in the village of Jit, the latest in a series of attacks by violent Zionists in the Israel-occupied West Bank.

Footage shared on social media showed cars and houses on fire following the attacks.

The attackers opened fire at residents, pelted stones at homes, and set fire to homes and vehicles, witnesses said.

The witnesses also said that Israeli forces provided protection to the illegal settlers and prevented Palestinian civil defence vehicles from entering the town.

Citing an Israeli security source, the Israeli army radio reported that more than 100 settlers stormed the town.

The source said that the Zionist settlers set fire to four homes and six vehicles owned by Palestinians, while hurling stones and Molotov cocktails at residents and their property.

“The incident ended without any arrests, while several Palestinians suffered from inhalation of tear gas" fired by Israeli soldiers, it added.

Over the past few years, the Israeli military has conducted regular raids in the West Bank, which have escalated with the beginning of the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023.

At least 632 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,400 others wounded by Israeli army and the illegal settlers in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.

In a landmark advisory opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land "illegal" and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Condemnations

"The Nazi occupation's aggression through its armed illegal settlers on the village of Jit east of Qalqilya this evening, along with the burning and abuse, is part of a series of crimes by the occupation in the West Bank," Abdel Rahman Shadid, a Hamas leader, said in a statement.

Shadid called on Palestinians in the West Bank "to further rise up against the occupation and its settlers and to confront their brutal attacks by all possible means."

The White House said late on Thursday attacks by settlers on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank were "unacceptable and must stop."

"Israeli authorities must take measures to protect all communities from harm, this includes intervening to stop such violence, and holding all perpetrators of such violence to account," a White House spokesperson added.

The Israeli military said that dozens of illegal settlers, some masked, had torched vehicles and structures in the town, hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails in what it called a "violent riot". It said forces used "riot dispersal means" and arrested one Israeli civilian.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also condemned the attack, saying he viewed the incident with "utmost severity".

"Those responsible for any offence will be apprehended and tried," it said.

Armed "civilian" Zionists

The United States and a number of European countries have imposed sanctions on violent illegal settlers and called repeatedly on Israel to do more to curb the attacks. But it has not deterred Israeli settlers or their protectors — the Israeli regime — from targeting Palestinians.

The current Israeli regime is dominated by settler bosses and their far-right allies, who have practically turned civilian Zionists into armed militia in West Bank as well as in occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israel war.

Tel Aviv has built well over 100 illegal settlements across the West Bank where over 500,000 Zionists live in small cities and towns. Around 200,000 illegal settlers also live in occupied East Jerusalem.

The three million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank live under brutal Israeli military rule. The Palestinian Authority has a token presence in enclaves scattered across the territory and is barred from operating in 60 percent of the West Bank.