The UK foreign secretary has condemned the “widespread rampage” in a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank after an attack by dozens of Israeli settlers left at least one person dead.
The Palestinian health ministry said a man was killed and another left critically injured by the settlers who opened fire on Thursday night in the village of Jit.
Residents said at least 100 masked settlers entered the village, shot live ammunition, burned homes, cars and damaged water tankers.
David Lammy, who is on a visit to Israel and Palestine with his French counterpart, Stéphane Séjourné, said the behaviour of the settlers was “abhorrent”.
He said: “The scenes overnight of the burning and the torching of buildings, of the molotov cocktails thrown at cars, of the widespread rampage and chasing of people from their homes is abhorrent and I condemn it in the strongest of terms.
“Prime minister Netanyahu has said that there will be a swift investigation. I hope that that investigation can ensure that those who have engaged in this settler violence over the course of the last 24 hours are brought to justice.”
Since the Israel-Hamas war, 633 Palestinians including 147 children and teenagers have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank, according to Palestinian health officials.
Violence has flared in the occupied territory and many have been killed during Israeli military raids into Palestinian cities and towns but settlers have killed at least 11 Palestinians including two children, and left 234 people injured, the Association of International Development Agencies says.
At least 15 Israelis, including nine security forces personnel and five settlers, were also killed by Palestinians in the West Bank over the same period, while another 10 Israelis were killed in attacks in Israel by Palestinians from the West Bank, according to the UN.
Lammy is set to meet the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israel Katz, the foreign minister, alongside Séjourné, according to reports.
The foreign secretary is understood to be keen to use the talks to secure an immediate ceasefire that protects civilians in Gaza and also secures the release of hostages who are still held by Hamas.
Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian mission to the UK, has said Lammy’s visit to Israel is “important, timely and historic”.
He told Times Radio: “We need sufficient pressure on Netanyahu to actually deliver what the world has a consensus on. And that’s why the visit of the British and the French foreign secretary is absolutely important, timely and historic.
“We literally wish them success because nothing is needed now more than stopping this carnage, this madness. And if it’s not stopped now, after all the sheer suffering, all that happened over the course of 11 months, and … stopping a regional war that I believe Netanyahu was instigating, if it doesn’t happen, then we are into a new arena that will be a lose-lose for everybody. So let’s hope, let’s pray, let’s work together that later today we will hear good news.”
Last week the UK pledged £6m towards aid in Gaza, shortly before Israel’s airstrike on a school in the region that killed at least 80 people and injured dozens more, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Allan Hogarth, Amnesty International UK’s head of government and political relations, said: “It’s not enough for David Lammy to talk about the need for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages, he also needs to speak out about the appalling civilian death toll in Gaza, Israeli war crimes and the desperate need for international justice.
“For years the UK has effectively turned a blind eye to Israel’s terrible human rights record, something this government urgently needs to steer away from with a renewed commitment to international law and justice.”
