After a deadly shooting attack on a nearby settlement on Tuesday night, Israeli settler guards stormed several Palestinian West Bank towns, setting cars and fields on fire, destroying homes and terrorizing local residents – a gruesome repetition of an incident some dubbed a pogrom earlier in the year.
Palestinians in Luban a-Sharqiya, Huwara, Beit Furik, Burin and other towns south of Nablus in the northern West Bank said truckloads of settlers were dragging through villages on Tuesday night, hurling stones and setting cars, fields, houses and other property on fire .
Three Israelis have been arrested over the attacks, Israeli news agency Ynet News reported.
Nablus official Ghassan Daghlas said 34 Palestinians were injured, most by tear gas, and at least 140 vehicles caught fire, including an ambulance.
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The rampage was sparked by an attack hours earlier in which two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a hummus restaurant and gas station in the settlement of Eli, killing four people, including two 17-year-old boys, and injuring four others. One of the terrorists was shot dead at the scene by an armed Israeli civilian, while the second fled and was killed by special forces about two hours later.
Hours after the attack, Israeli settlers streamed through Palestinian towns, attempting to set fire to property and smash cars with rocks, locals say. Some of the attacks were caught on video.
Some settlers also opened fire on Palestinians who had ventured out of their homes to confront them, Daghlas said. Dozens of Palestinians were attacked by stones and injured throughout Nablus governorate, he said, including a Palestinian journalist who was slapped in the face.
Videos posted online showed huge fires raging across the countryside, and images showed extensive property damage.
In Luban al-Sharqiya, near Eli, Palestinians said settlers attacked a 12-year-old boy coming home on a bicycle, pointing a gun at him and seriously injuring him, official Wafa news agency reported.
Several buildings in the city were burned, including part of a gas station and another shop. Other buildings also suffered broken windows and other vandalism. Cars, courtyards of houses and fields were also set on fire across the region, according to Wafa.
In Huwara, a gang of settlers burned cars and damaged Palestinian property. According to Wafa, some also opened fire on Palestinians, leading to violent clashes with soldiers dispatched to restore calm.
The city was the scene of a deadly killing spree earlier this year, with settlers setting fire to dozens of homes and cars after a fatal shooting attack on two Israeli brothers. At least one Palestinian was killed under unclear circumstances and the incident was widely condemned by Israelis and the international community, although some members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line cabinet appeared to support the vigilantes.
Israeli security forces at the scene of a shooting attack near the West Bank settlement of Eli, June 20, 2023. (Flash90)
After Tuesday’s shooting, dozens of settlers also marched to Yitzhar settlement to demand a tough IDF response to the attack. Soldiers tried to clear the streets and one of them reportedly shot himself in the air after the settlers refused to cooperate.
Later, a group of settler leaders, including Religious Zionism MP Zvi Sukkot and Samaria Regional Council Chairman Yossi Dagan, traveled to Evyatar’s illegal outpost and demanded that the government approve construction on the West Bank hill in response the attack.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with the country’s army chief and other top security officials to discuss a response to the shooting. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have increased pressure on the government to crack down on the wave of Palestinian violence.
“The time has come to launch a military operation in Judea and Samaria,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir told reporters from Eli, using the biblical term for the West Bank. “To return to aerial targeting, demolish buildings, set up roadblocks, expel terrorists and pass the Terrorist Death Penalty Act.”
Yisrael Beytenu boss Avigdor Liberman also called on the opposition to take broad action against terrorist leaders. “It’s time for the Israeli government to wake up and launch a full-scale military operation in Judea and Samaria, not just against supporters and young field workers, but also against the perpetrators of the terror wave who are sitting in Gaza and enjoying themselves immunity that Netanyahu granted them.”
(Left to right) Harel Masood, 21, of Yad Binyamin, Elisha Anteman, 17, of Eli, Ofer Fayerman, 64, of Eli, and Nachman Mordoff, 17, of Ahiya, killed in a shooting attack near the West Bank became settlement of Eli on June 20, 2023. (Courtesy)
The chairman of the Yesha Council, the umbrella organization of the Israeli settlers, joined the demands.
“We cannot take this beating any longer and we hope that the wave of terrorism will just pass,” Shlomo Ne’eman said.
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have risen over the past year as the military conducted raids in the West Bank almost nightly amid a spate of deadly Palestinian terrorist attacks.
Since the beginning of the year, 24 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank, including 17-year-old Nachman Mordoff, 17-year-old Elisha Anteman, 21-year-old Harel Masood and 64-year-old Ofer Fayerman, all killed on Tuesday.
Six Palestinians were killed and nearly 100 wounded in gun battles in Jenin on Monday. Eight IDF soldiers suffered minor to moderate injuries in the clashes and as a result of a massive roadside bomb that detonated next to an army vehicle.
According to Palestinian reports, two more Palestinians were killed early Wednesday in Nablus when an explosive device they were preparing exploded prematurely.