Israeli settlers kidnap two Palestinian children, tie them to a tree
Israeli settlers kidnapped two Palestinian children on Saturday and tied them to a tree near the city of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.
The incident occurred in the afternoon, as a group of children were playing near their homes on the outskirts of Beit Furik, east of Nablus. A group of settlers approached and abducted the two children.
Local residents managed to catch up with the settlers and rescue the children. However, the boys remain in a distressed psychological state.
Mohammed Hanani, the children's uncle, told Middle East Eye that his two daughters and their cousins were playing outside their home when a group of settlers arrived from a newly established outpost built on the town's land.
The settlers kidnapped 13-year-old Maryam and her three-year-old brother Ahmed, taking them to a remote area where they tied them to an olive tree. One of their cousins tried to intervene but settlers attacked him with stones.
"My two little girls came crying and screaming, so we chased after the settlers. We eventually found the children unconscious and tied to a tree," he said, "The settlers had fled to the outpost on an ATV. We untied the children and rushed them to the health centre," he added.
While the children did not sustain physical injuries, they remain in a state of extreme terror and psychological distress.
"My daughter, who witnessed the incident, still refuses to leave the house and cries all the time."
Alarm bells
This is the first reported incident of settlers kidnapping children in the town, which has faced repeated attacks since the establishment of the new settlement outpost following the start of the war on Gaza.
Hanani said that in recent months, settlers had torched his car and the truck he uses for work, set fire to his crops and repeatedly attacked his home with stones.
"All of this material damage is being compensated, but kidnapping and assaulting children sets off alarm bells and puts our lives in direct danger," he said.
According to Hanani, the aim of these attacks is to force Palestinians off their land and out of their homes, clearing the way for settlers to take over the area.
The Israeli army was not present at the scene at any point during the incident, residents said, though it responds quickly if settlers are threatened anywhere in the West Bank.
In July 2014, Israeli settlers kidnapped Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir from the town of Shuafat in occupied East Jerusalem. They took him to a forested area, where they tortured him before burning him alive.
Settler attacks on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank have intensified under the current extreme right-wing government. The highest rates of land confiscation, assaults on landowners, livestock theft and the establishment of settlement outposts have been recorded since this government took office in 2022.
What sets this government apart is the level of support and encouragement it provides to settlers, whether through supplying them with weapons or funding the creation of new outposts. This backing has enabled and emboldened settlers to carry out attacks on Palestinians, with the aim of displacing communities and annexing their land.