HUWARA, Palestinian Territories: Israeli settlers on Wednesday wounded a Palestinian and set buildings on fire while raiding two villages in the occupied West Bank after a nearby settlement outpost was evicted by Israeli forces, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.
“Israeli civilians entered the village of Beit Furik” east of the Palestinian city of Nablus, the Israeli army said, adding that they “set property on fire, and hurled stones.”
Local authorities told AFP the attacks took place early on Wednesday morning.
The army said that the settlers reacted after Israeli forces “acted against illegal construction by Israeli civilians adjacent to the town of Beit Furik” on Tuesday night, triggering clashes during which the settlers injured two policemen with stones.
Nahi Hanani, deputy head of the Beit Furik council, told AFP that dozens of settlers attacked the village “setting fire to a truck in front of one house and another vehicle,” early on Wednesday.
“They also set fire to a grocery shop in the village and another house was slightly damaged,” he said.
The army said the Israelis also “set property on fire and threw stones” in Huwara, a town to the south of Nablus.
Rana Abu Hania, spokeswoman for Huwara’s town hall, confirmed to AFP that one resident was injured when settlers attacked the town early on Wednesday.
“They burned two cars and the house of one citizen... The army also demolished a used car lot,” said Abu Hania.
Yusef Awadi, a resident of Huwara, told AFP that settlers burned his brother’s house Wednesday morning.
“They set fire to the Jeep and to the car outside... They entered the house, set it on fire, and then left,” the 66-year-old said, adding that his brother Tayseer was hospitalized.
“He was hit on the head and... was transferred to Rafidia Hospital,” Awadi told AFP, adding that had his brother’s family not been awake, “they would have all burned with the house.”
In a joint statement, the Israeli army and police said that eight suspects were arrested in the investigation into the Beit Furik and Huwara attacks, “for assaulting security forces, engaging in friction, and causing damage to property.”
The army said that there were also clashes between the Israeli army and “about 20 Israelis” in Rujeib, a town closer to Nablus, on Tuesday evening.
The West Bank is home to some three million Palestinians as well as 490,000 Israelis who live in settlements that are considered illegal under international law.
Violence in the occupied Palestinian territory has soared since the war in Gaza erupted on October 7 last year after Hamas’s attack on Israel.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 788 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
Palestinian attacks on Israelis have also killed at least 24 people in the West Bank in the same period, according to Israeli official figures.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
Israeli settlers raid West Bank towns
https://arab.news/zwx52
Israeli settlers raid West Bank towns
- West Bank is home to some three million Palestinians as well as 490,000 Israelis who live in settlements that are considered illegal under international law
- Violence in the occupied Palestinian territory has soared since the war in Gaza erupted on October 7 last year after Hamas’s attack on Israel
UN peacekeepers say Israeli forces fired on them in southern Lebanon
- “Yesterday, peacekeepers in vehicles patrolling the Blue Line were fired upon by IDF soldiers in a Merkava tank,” UNIFIL said
- It said that both the peacekeepers and the Israeli tank were in Lebanese territory
BEIRUT: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said Wednesday that Israeli forces fired on its peacekeepers a day earlier in the country’s south, urging Israel’s army to “cease aggressive behavior.”
It is the latest such incident reported by the peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL acts as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon and has been working with Lebanon’s army to support a year-old truce between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
“Yesterday, peacekeepers in vehicles patrolling the Blue Line were fired upon by IDF (Israeli army) soldiers in a Merkava tank,” a UNIFIL statement said, referring to the de facto border.
“One ten-round burst of machine-gun fire was fired above the convoy, and four further ten-round bursts were fired nearby,” the statement said.
It said that both the peacekeepers and the Israeli tank were in Lebanese territory at the time of the incident and that the Israeli military had been informed of the location and timing of the peacekeeping patrol in advance.
“Peacekeepers asked the IDF to stop firing through UNIFIL’s liaison channels... Fortunately, no one was injured,” it said.
Last month UNIFIL said Israeli soldiers shot at its troops in the south, while Israel’s military said it mistook blue helmets for “suspects” and fired warning shots.
In October, UNIFIL said one of its members was wounded by an Israeli grenade dropped near a UN position in the country’s south, the third incident of its kind in just over a month.
“Attacks on or near peacekeepers are serious violations of (UN) Security Council Resolution 1701,” UNIFIL said on Wednesday, referring to the 2006 resolution that formed the basis of the November 2024 truce.
“We call on the IDF to cease aggressive behavior and attacks on or near peacekeepers working to rebuild stability along the Blue Line,” the peacekeepers said.
Israel carries out regular attacks on Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting sites and operatives belonging to Hezbollah, which it accuses of rearming.
It has also kept troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic.
On Saturday, a UN Security Council delegation visiting Lebanon urged all parties to uphold the ceasefire.
It emphasized that the “safety of peacekeepers must be respected and that they must never be targeted,” after gunmen on mopeds attacked UNIFIL personnel last week.
