Settlers set cars, homes on fire in West Bank village
Palestinian health officials said on Thursday that one man was killed, and another seriously hurt from gunfire when settlers rampaged the West Bank village of Jit. The IDF said they were investigating the reports.
Dozens of settlers entered the village, hurled stones and fire-bombs and set cars and homes on fire before IDF troops arrived and dispersed them detaining one suspect.
Earlier on Thursday, a settler was hurt from stone-throwing during an altercation with Palestinians and the military was investigating whether the incidents were connected.
The Palestinians identified 23-year-old Alkader Suda as the victim of the settler attack and said another man who was shot in the chest was brought to a Nablus hospital.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the violence. "Those responsible will be apprehended," he said. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the rampaging settlers do not represent the settler population and President Issac Herzog said they defied Jewish law and morality.
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel condemned the settler's violence and called on security forces to take action. "I call on the Shin Bet and law enforcement to immediately act to stop the nationalistic crime that took place in Jit against innocent civilians," he said. "Such action goes against Jewish values and is morally depraved and harmful to Israel and the settlements in the West Bank."
The left-wing advocacy group Yesh Din said that four homes and six cars burned in the village.
On Monday, the IDF and Shin Bet arrested two men, residents of the illegal West Bank outpost Givat Ronen, on suspicion that they attacked four Bedouin women and a small child, who entered the settlement. One of the suspects was under US sanctions imposed on settlers and far-right entities by the Biden Administration for acts of violence against Palestinians.
The U.S. has threatened to impose sanctions against settler organizations including one established by Smotrich for its efforts to impose an annexation of the West Bank. Smotrich himself and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir were reportedly also eyed for possible American sanctions.
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