Israeli settlers rampage through West Bank village, killing 1 Palestinian and wounding 25
Dozens of angry Israeli settlers stormed into a Palestinian village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, shooting and setting houses and cars on fire. A Palestinian man was fatally shot and 25 were wounded, Palestinian health officials said. It was unclear whether the man was killed by settlers or by Israeli soldiers.
The violence was the latest escalation in the West Bank that has accompanied the war in the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli rights group said the settlers were searching for a missing 14-year-old boy from their community.
The violence occurred after a raid overnight killed two Palestinians, including a Hamas militant, in confrontation with Israeli forces.
Palestinian health officials say more than 460 people have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces since the war erupted in October.
The Israeli human rights group Yesh Din said settlers stormed into the village of Al Mughayyir late Friday. Videos posted by the rights group to the social media platform X showed dark clouds of smoke billowing from burning cars as gunshots sounded. A photo posted by the group showed what appeared to be a crowd of masked settlers.
Outraged over the war in Gaza, protesters gather every night near the Israeli Embassy in Jordan’s capital to demand an end to peace agreements with Israel.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said one man was brought dead to a hospital and 25 were treated for wounds. The deceased man was identified by his family as Jehad Abu Alia, 26. His father, Afif Abu Alia, said he was unsure if the fatal bullet was fired by an armed settler or an Israeli soldier.
“My son went with others to defend our land and honor, and this is what happened,” Afif Abu Alia said from a hospital in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where his son’s body had been transported.
The attack was condemned by Mohammad Mustafa, the new Palestinian Authority prime minister.
The Israeli army said it was still searching for the 14-year-old boy. It said soldiers opened fire when stones were hurled at them by Palestinians. The army said soldiers also cleared Israeli settlers from the village.
“As of this moment, the violent riots have been dispersed, and there are no Israeli civilians present within the town,” it said.
President Biden and other U.S. officials have repeatedly raised concerns about a surge in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Rights groups have long accused the Israeli military of failing to halt settler violence or punish soldiers for wrongdoing.
Earlier Friday, two Palestinians were killed in confrontations with Israeli forces in the northern West Bank, Palestinian medics and the military said. One of those killed was a local Hamas commander, the militant group said.
The military said its raid had targeted Hamas commander Mohammed Daraghmeh. It said Daraghmeh was killed in a shootout with Israeli soldiers who discovered weapons in his car. The army alleged that Daraghmeh had been planning attacks on Israeli targets but provided no evidence.
The war started Oct. 7 when Hamas killed about 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, in a surprise attack in southern Israel. Around 250 people were taken hostage by Palestinian militants.
In Gaza, Israeli bombardments and ground offensives have killed more than 33,600 Palestinians and wounded more than 76,200, the Health Ministry said Friday. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tally but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. Israel says it has killed more than 12,000 militants during the war but has not provided evidence to back up the claim.
Staffers from World Central Kitchen, chef José Andrés’ humanitarian aid group trying to get food to Palestinians in Gaza, were killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Six months of fighting have pushed Gaza to a humanitarian crisis, leaving more than 1 million people on the brink of starvation.
Israel said Friday it had opened a new crossing for aid trucks into hard-hit northern Gaza. However, the United Nations says an increase in aid is not being felt in Gaza because of persistent difficulties with distribution.
“It’s very easy for Israel to say, ‘We’ve sent you 1,000 trucks, so please deliver them inside Gaza,’” said Jamie McGoldrick, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories.
The U.N. says aid distribution within Gaza is dangerous and mired in holdups at inspection checkpoints. Bringing aid to the north of the enclave — where famine is imminent, the U.N. said — is particularly difficult, with only one or two roads open at a given time, according to McGoldrick.
Israel’s killing of World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza is the latest example of an incident provoking outrage but potentially little deep change.
Meanwhile, Poland’s government said Friday that the killing of a Polish aid worker in Israeli airstrikes on a World Central Kitchen mission was murder.
Poland expects Israel’s “full cooperation” in its prosecutors’ investigation into the April 1 death of Damian Soból, Deputy Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski said. The prosecutors “have classified it as a murder,” he told lawmakers in parliament.
Israel conducted a speedy investigation and took responsibility for the deaths but called the attack a tragic mistake. The Israeli military dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others, saying they had violated the army’s rules of engagement.
Bartoszewski said that response was “inadequate” and demanded that the case be tried by an independent court in Israel.
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