A large group of Israeli settlers have attacked a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank, setting fire to homes, cars and fields in a revenge rampage that left one Palestinian dead from gunfire and 10 others injured, according to Palestinian witnesses and officials.
Many of the hundreds of settlers who raided the town of Turmus Ayya, north of Ramallah, on Wednesday were armed.
But the dead man, Omar Abu Katan, 27, was shot by Israeli soldiers who entered after the settlers, Palestinian medics said. According to a Palestinian Authority official, Ghassan Daghlas, the 10 wounded were struck by live shots, some fired by soldiers and others by settlers. About 30 houses and over 40 cars were torched, he said.
Later on Wednesday, three Palestinians were killed when an Israeli drone targeted a car in the northern West Bank. The late-night attack marked an escalation in Israel’s campaign against alleged militants in the area.
The identities of the people inside the car were not immediately known, but the army said it had “identified a terrorist cell inside a suspicious vehicle” that had been responsible for a number of recent shooting attacks on Jewish settlements.
The settler attack reinforced questions from rights groups, who accuse the military of enjoying a cosy relationship with settlers to the point of doing little to fulfil its international legal obligation of protecting civilians.
Turmus Ayya resident Mohammed Awad, 26, said people had to contend with fire from the settlers and the army. “I rescued five people with my own hands. They were shot with live ammunition,” he said. “It’s Armageddon in Turmus Ayya. Cars are on fire, villas and fields are on fire. Someone needs to stop them. No one is helping us.”
The Turmus Ayya onslaught was part of a day of settler attacks in the northern West Bank in reprisal for the killing by Hamas gunmen on Tuesday of four settlers at a restaurant and petrol station outside the Eli settlement.
According to Yesh Din, which monitors settler violence, eight Palestinians were wounded in some of the other attacks that occurred in Luban Sharqiya, Qablan, Huwwara, Baytin, Zaatra Junction and Yizhar Junction. Israeli media reports said that those who assaulted Turmus Ayya did so after the funeral of Nachman Morodov, one of the settlers killed in nearby Eli.
Associated Press quoted the Turmus Ayya resident Mohammed Suleiman as blaming the army, saying soldiers turned their guns on Palestinians instead of stopping the settlers who were setting alight everything in their path. “It was terrifying. We just saw mobs in the streets, masked, armed,” he said.
Earlier Benjamin Netanyahu and senior ministers approved plans for 1,000 new housing units at Eli, in what officials said was a response to Tuesday’s attack.
As the Israeli army beefed up troops in advance of a possible operation, in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, 15-year-old Sadeel Naghneghia was laid to rest after succumbing to her injuries and becoming the seventh Palestinian to die after an Israeli army incursion on Monday that left more than 90 other Palestinians and seven Israeli soldiers injured.
It is one of the worst spasms of violence in an escalation that began early last year with a string of Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets that resulted in the Israeli military launching “Operation Break the Wave”, frequent raids that have resulted in heavy Palestinian casualties while failing to deter attacks, mostly in the West Bank on military and settler targets.
The army said in a statement that “security forces entered the town to extinguish the fires, prevent clashes and collect evidence. The Israeli civilians exited the town and the police has opened an investigation.”
There was no immediate word of arrests.
The most rightwing government in Israeli history is moving ahead with illegal settlement activity and massive infrastructure plans and appears determined to make the territory occupied during the 1967 war an integral part of Israel. Many Palestinians fear that Israel intends to expel them from the area envisioned, according to the rhetoric of the international community, as the heartland of a future Palestinian state.
Settlers also struck late on Tuesday in Luban Sharqiya village near Eli. “They vandalised whatever houses and stores they could find,” said local councillor Filastiin Nubbani. “They burned cars in front of houses and a lot of wheat fields.” She said two people suffered gunshot wounds.
“It won’t get better, it will only get worse. There is nothing to protect us.”
The Turmus Ayya onslaught evoked memories of a mass settler attack in February in Huwara near Nablus. Gadi Gvaryahu, head of the dovish Israeli group Tag Meir, said the government and army bore responsibility for the Turmus Ayya assault.
“Things are just repeating themselves. It was completely clear there would be revenge. The government and army are not doing the work. We are responsible for protecting the population in these areas. It’s our responsibility.”
Additional reporting by Sufian Taha
