The Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused "Jewish terrorist elements" of an arson attack against a family home in the West Bank on Sunday, but Israeli police said the fire appeared to have been an accident.
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West Bank tensions have been running high as Palestinians mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan amid a surge of violence, including a gun attack on Saturday in which two Israeli soldiers were wounded and almost nightly arrest raids by the Israeli army.
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Firefighters work at a Palestinian house that Palestinians say was attacked by Israeli settlers near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 26, 2023
(Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman)
No one was hurt in the predawn fire in Sinjel. Ahmed Awashreh, the owner of the home that was badly damaged, said he was woken by the sound of a window smashing and managed to get his four children and wife out before the flames spread.
"It was so close. I'm happy I saved my family," he said.
A Sinjel resident who requested anonymity said he saw cars whose occupants he recognized as Jewish settlers nearby minutes before the incident.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry blamed the incident on "Jewish terrorist elements" but Israeli police, who sent investigators to the scene, said in a statement that the fire "was most likely caused due to a short circuit and not a deliberate ignition".
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An Israeli policeman checks the damage in a Palestinian house which Palestinians say was attacked by Israeli settlers near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 26, 2023
(REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman)
This took place only one day after the Liberation of Palestine militant group claimed Saturday night's drive-by shooting in Huwara, 13 km (8 miles) from Sinjel, that wounded two soldiers. It was the third time in a month that Israelis had been fired upon there.
In a Feb. 26 attack, a gunman from the Hamas militant group killed two brothers from a nearby Jewish settlement as they sat in a car. That sparked a revenge rampage by settlers in which a Palestinian was killed and properties torched.