Last night’s violent assault by Israeli settlers in several towns in the Nablus area in the north of the occupied West Bank left one Palestinian killed, more than 300 injured and extensive material damage with at least 75 houses burned down and more than a hundred cars.

Among the damage to homes, at least 35 were completely destroyed and about 40 partially damaged, according to the count by Palestinian media that documented last night’s events.

Hundreds of settlers stormed the Palestinian towns of Huwara, Burin, Zatara, Odala and Asira al Qabaliyya last night, armed with knives, sticks, stones and even firearms, to commit attacks against Palestinians in retaliation for the ‘attack perpetrated hours earlier by a Palestinian, who killed two settlers.

The deceased were identified as Hilel and Yagel Yaniv, two brothers aged 22 and 20 respectively, who lived in the Jewish settlement of Har Bracha, a few kilometers from Huwara. The killer managed to escape and the Israeli army has not yet been able to catch him.

At the scene of the shooting, Defense Minister Yoav Galant told reporters that Israel “cannot allow a situation where citizens take over the law,” but he stopped short of outright condemning the violence.

“I ask everyone to respect the law and, above all, to have faith in the army and the security forces,” he said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, for his part, has expressed his “strong condemnation” of Israeli settlers’ attack on Palestinians. “Taking the law into your own hands, provoking riots and committing acts of violence against innocents – this is not our way, and I express my firm condemnation“The president said in a statement.

Herzog indicated that the Israeli security forces should “arrest the despicable terrorist and immediately restore order”.

After the settlers’ assault, Palestinian Sameh Hamdala, 37, died Sunday night from a gunshot wound to the abdomen carried out by settlers in the village of Zatara, the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed.

The Red Crescent reported that it had treated more than 100 wounded and that three of its ambulances were attacked by settlers as they went about their work.

Among the images spread on social networks, we see how the settlers killed a whole flock of sheep and uprooted olive trees and others harvested by Palestinian farmers.

Violence on the rise in Israel

After the accidents, Israel announced on Monday it would send hundreds of soldiers in addition to the occupied West Bank.

The responses to the clashes have highlighted some differences in the new Israeli government. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for calm, a member of his governing coalition praised the killing as a deterrent against Palestinian attacks.

“I ask that even if blood is boiling and spirits are burning, they do not take the law into their own hands. I ask that they let the army and the security forces do their job,” Benjamin Netanyahu said

Last night’s episodes come in the context of a serious increase in violence in the area, both due to attacks by settlers and attacks by Palestinians, in addition to the intense, often violent raids that the Israeli army has been carrying out regularly for a year in the West Bank, especially in the north, in the area of ​​Nablus and Jenin.

Indeed last Wednesday eleven Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli troops following a raid, the deadliest incident in the West Bank since 2005, when the United Nations began recording these figures.

So far this year, 63 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, the most violent start to a year since 2000, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and after 2022 ended as the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since end of the Second Intifada.

On the Israeli side, 13 people diedmostly settlers victims of Palestinian attacks.

Source: AP and EFE