‘They burned everything’: Israeli settlers torch West Bank clinics, homes and cars
Israeli settlers escalated attacks against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank over the weekend, including torching a clinic, shooting at civilians and vandalising a school.
Palestinian media reported on Monday that settlers raided a boys’ secondary school in the town of Hawara, south of Nablus, where they removed the Palestinian flag, raised an Israeli flag in its place and wrote “death to Arabs” on the walls.
Late on Sunday, a series of attacks were reported near Nablus and Ramallah. Armed settlers attacked Palestinians in the town of Deir al-Hatab, east of Nablus, injuring at least nine people, including one who sustained gunshot wounds.
In the town of Burqa, east of Ramallah, settlers torched a local clinic and a vehicle.
A night earlier, several simultaneous attacks were reported around Jenin, Nablus and Salfit.
The most extensive targeted the towns of al-Fandaqumiya and Silat ad-Dhahr, south of Jenin, where settlers launched assaults from the Homesh settlement, built on land belonging to the two towns. Settlers have been re-establishing a permanent presence at Homesh in recent years after its evacuation in 2005.
In al-Fandaqumiya, several Palestinian homes and vehicles were damaged after being set ablaze. One homeowner sustained serious injuries, and around 10 others suffered minor injuries across the two towns.
Hussam al-Zu’bi, whose house was completely burned, said he had been visiting his uncle when he received a call informing him that his home was on fire. When he arrived, he found it engulfed in flames.
“They burned everything, smashed the windows, and the fire consumed all the furniture,” Zu’bi told Middle East Eye.
“They even tore down the roof tiles and threw Molotov cocktails through the roof and windows, and the house immediately burst into flames.”
More than 200 settlers took part in the attack on the village, Zu’bi added, saying it began shortly before midnight and lasted about 20 minutes.
Sami Azzam, a resident, said the settlers advanced on foot, spreading out among the houses in groups, suggesting the assault was organised.
“They suddenly attacked the houses and burned any vehicles they encountered. They burned a doctor’s car that was visiting the town, and they also burned a neighbour’s bus,” Azzam said.
“They threw Molotov cocktails at another neighbour’s house, causing it to catch fire and burn down.”
Coordinated attacks
As attacks unfolded in al-Fandaqumiya, similar assaults took place at around the same time in several other villages late on Saturday.
In Silat al-Dhahr, more than 150 settlers attacked Palestinian homes, setting vehicles ablaze, smashing windows and spray-painting racist slogans.
Adel Abu Ali, a resident of the town, said the settlers attacked at around 1:30am local time, after carrying out their assault on al-Fandaqumiya. He described the attack as extremely brutal and carried out with “intent to kill”.
“They smashed the windows of several houses, some with children and women inside, and threw Molotov cocktails inside,” Abu Ali told MEE.
“They also set several vehicles on fire. We felt that the Dawabsheh family’s murder would be repeated in our town as well,” he added, referring to the family killed in an settler arson attack in Duma in 2015.
The settlers spray-painted slogans threatening the townspeople with revenge, indicating an intention to burn the town down with residents inside.
More than half an hour after the attack, the settlers withdrew, and the Israeli army entered the town.
However, it closed the main entrance, obstructing the arrival of firefighters and preventing ambulances from reaching residents suffering from smoke inhalation following the arson attacks.
“They assaulted my neighbour, fracturing his skull, and he is still in hospital. They also burned four houses and five vehicles,” Abu Ali said.
“This is the first time our town has been subjected to an attack of this scale,” he added.
The violence extended to the towns of Jalud and Qaryut, south of Nablus, where settlers set fire to Palestinian homes and vehicles and burned parts of the Medical Relief Society building in Jalud.
Activist Bashar al-Qaryuti said settlers burned five vehicles and part of the clinic in Jalud, and attempted to set fire to a house and a mosque. They also smashed the windows of more than 10 homes and two vehicles, and wounded four young men who were trying to resist the attack.
Several Palestinian vehicles travelling between Nablus and Ramallah were pelted with stones.
Settlers had circulated calls for demonstrations at major junctions on social media, to protest the death of a settler in a car crash after he had reportedly stolen a vehicle from the town of Beit Iba, near Nablus, earlier on Saturday.
The Palestinian Liaison Office urged residents to minimise travel between cities as much as possible due to the ongoing attacks on roads and vehicles.
A number of Palestinians were forced to wait until Sunday morning to return home because of the presence of settlers on main roads and their repeated attacks on passing vehicles.
Settler violence, which has surged since October 2023, has intensified further following the launch of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
At least six Palestinians have been killed by settlers since the start of the war.