Hundreds of Jewish settlers in the West Bank organized organized attacks in the city of Nablus, setting fire to many Palestinian homes, businesses and vehicles.
Tensions rose in the region after 2 Jewish settlers were killed in an armed attack on a vehicle in the town of Huvara in Nablus.
Hundreds of Israeli settlers living in illegal Jewish settlements in and around Huwara took to the streets and launched organized attacks against Palestinians.
Settlers carried out Molotov cocktail attacks in the region and set fire to many Palestinian homes, businesses and vehicles.
A Palestinian was killed
According to the statement made by the Palestine Red Crescent, 37-year-old Samih Hamdallah Mahmud Aktaş, who was wounded in the stomach by a live bullet, died as a result of an armed attack by Israeli forces and settlers in the Zatera town of Nablus.
It was shared that Aktaş, one of the residents of Beyta town, voluntarily participated in the search and rescue efforts in Turkey after the earthquake.
During the events, 2 Palestinians, one of whom was attacked with a knife and the other with a stick, were injured. It was reported that the injured were taken to the hospital.
It was noted that dozens of Palestinians were affected by the smoke, and some by the tear gas attacks.
It was reported that stony attacks were carried out on ambulances and fire trucks operating in the region and the vehicles were damaged.
Netanyahu urges settlers not to ‘apply the law with their own hands’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Jewish settlers who engaged in organized attacks, asking them not to “enforce the law with their own hands”.
In a statement from the Israeli Prime Ministry’s Press Office, Netanyahu, referring to the shooting that killed two Jewish settlers, said, “The Israeli army and security forces are now in pursuit of the killer. We will find him. We will catch him and deal with him,” he said.
Addressing the settlers who are engaged in organized attacks against Palestinian civilians in Huwara, Netanyahu said:
“Even when the blood boils, I beg you not to apply the law with your own hands. I request that the Israeli army and security forces be allowed to do their job. I remind you that they have targeted dozens of terrorists and repelled dozens of attacks in the last weeks.”
Tensions escalate in Nablus
The city of Nablus, in the north of the occupied West Bank, has witnessed intense violence by the Israeli army and Jewish settlements in recent days.
Israeli forces had killed 11 Palestinians and injured more than 100 Palestinians, 6 of them seriously, in a raid on the city of Nablus on February 22.
Jewish settlers attacked the houses of Palestinians in Burin village of Nablus yesterday and set fire to 2 cars.
A Palestinian farmer working in his field in Er-Ras, west of Selfit, was also attacked by an armed Jewish settler group with his family.
Two Jewish settlers were killed in an armed attack on a vehicle in the town of Huvara today.
849 attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank in 2022
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, particularly in Nablus and areas of Nablus such as Huvara and Burin, are frequent targets of fanatical Jewish settlers living in the surrounding illegal settlements.
Jewish settlers, many of whom are heavily armed, engage in acts of violence against Palestinians, such as attacks with stones, sticks and pepper spray, arson of homes and vehicles, damage to olive groves and fields, and looting.
According to United Nations (UN) data, Jewish settlers carried out 849 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank in 2022, of which 228 resulted in injuries and 621 in damage to Palestinian property.
About 700,000 Jewish settlers live around the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered illegal under international law.