February 27, 2023 at 10:52 GMT
Updated 1 hour ago
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According to a Palestinian official, dozens of settlers’ cars and homes were burned in Hawara
Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinian villages in the northern occupied West Bank after two settlers were shot dead by a Palestinian gunman.
One Palestinian man was killed and more than 100 others were injured in Sunday night’s violence near Nablus, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Dozens of cars and homes were also burned, according to a local official.
It followed the killing of the two Israelis – brothers from a nearby settlement – along a highway.
The Israeli military said it was continuing to search for the Palestinian who fired at Hillel Yaniv, 22, and Yagel Yaniv, 20, and had deployed hundreds of additional troops.
On Monday afternoon, an Israeli man was shot and injured in an attack on a highway north of Beit HaArava Junction in the east of the West Bank near the Dead Sea, the Israel Rescue Service said.
The 25-year-old is in critical condition and will be taken to a hospital in Jerusalem by paramedics, it said.
The incidents came after Israeli and Palestinian officials pledged to ease tensions at a summit in Jordan.
Videos posted hours after the summit ended on Sunday showed a large crowd of Israeli settlers entering the village of Hawara, some 6 km south of Nablus, lighting fires and throwing stones.
Ten-year-old Lamar Abusarees said her house was one of those that were burned.
“My mother put us in a corner because there was no safe place. They smashed all the windows while we were inside,” she told Portal.
A Palestinian official overseeing settlements in the Nablus region, Ghassan Daghlas, told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that 30 houses were damaged by rocks or burned down and 15 vehicles were set on fire in Hawara.
Settlers also set fire to a barn and three vehicles in nearby Burin and a house and water tank in Asira al-Qabaliyya, he said.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said 37-year-old Sameh Aqtash died after being shot in the abdomen in an attack by settlers in Zaatara.
Mr Aqtash’s brother, Abdul Moneim, said they were standing in front of a forge when attacked by settlers.
“They left the area and then came back with the occupation [Israeli] Army,” he told AFP news agency. “The army shot my brother, not the settlers.”
However, the Israeli military said Mr Aqtash was not shot dead by an Israeli soldier.
This part of the West Bank is under complete Israeli control, and the Palestinians have criticized the Israeli security forces for not protecting them.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he holds the Israeli government fully responsible for what he called “the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Israeli settlers under the protection of the Israeli occupying forces.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for calm and for settlers to allow the Israeli military and security forces to focus on finding the gunman who killed the two Israelis.
“I ask that you do not take up the law when the blood is boiling and the spirit is hot,” he said in a video statement.
UN special envoy for the Middle East Tor Wennesland said he was “deeply concerned by the deteriorating security situation”.
“There can be no justification for terrorism, arson and acts of revenge against civilians,” he added.
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The Israeli brothers were driving through Hawara when a Palestinian rammed their car and shot at them
Settlers had called for a march to Hawara to “take revenge” for the deadly attack on Hillel and Yagel Yaniv, who lived in the Har Bracha settlement, 2km south of Nablus.
The brothers were driving through Hawara when a Palestinian rammed their car and then shot them both several times.
Her mother Esty said: “Words cannot describe this disaster. Instead of bringing children to the wedding canopy, we need to bury them.”
She also appealed for unity among Israelis, stressing that “the responsibility for ensuring security rests solely with the army.”
So far, no Palestinian militant group has claimed to be behind the attack, but the gunman was reportedly wearing a shirt with the insignia of the Nablus-based lion’s den.
Members of the group were the target of an Israeli raid in Nablus last Wednesday that killed 11 Palestinians, including several civilians – the deadliest operation of its kind in the West Bank since 2005.
Israeli forces have carried out waves of search, arrest and intelligence attacks in Nablus and the nearby city of Jenin, saying they are trying to stem the tide of deadly attacks by Palestinians on Israelis.
Since the beginning of this year, more than 60 Palestinians – militants and civilians – have been killed by Israeli forces. On the Israeli side, 13 people were killed in attacks – all civilians, except for a paramilitary policeman.
More than 600,000 Jews live in 140 settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East War. Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, although Israel denies this.