Jewish settlers rampage in Israeli-occupied West Bank, killing 1
Palestinian officials say Jewish settlers rampaged through a town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, fatally shooting a Palestinian and wounding three others.
The Israeli military said its forces opened fire to disperse clashes between Israelis and Palestinians, and that it was investigating the reported fatality.
Settler violence has surged since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza, which ignited the war there. Israeli troops have also carried out near-nightly raids in the West Bank in which hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, and there has been a rise in attacks on Israelis.
Hamdi Ziyada, head of the local council in Wadi Rahal, said settlers entered the village near Bethlehem late Monday and hurled rocks at homes and cars. He says one of the settlers fired live rounds, killing and wounding the four people. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the casualties.
He said Israeli forces arrived more than a half-hour after the violence began and removed the settlers. He said it was not the first time settlers had attacked the village.
The Israeli military said Palestinians had thrown rocks at an Israeli vehicle and at Israeli civilians in the area. It said fighting broke out between the two sides and that Israeli troops “opened fire toward the rioters.”
Palestinians and rights groups have long accused Israeli forces of turning a blind eye or openly supporting settler violence in the West Bank.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state.
Over 500,000 Jewish settlers live in scores of settlements across the territory that most of the international community considers illegal. The territory’s 3 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited control over population centers. The settlers have Israeli citizenship.
Source: Associated Press
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