RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — At least 10 Palestinians were injured Sunday night in attacks in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers, who rampaged through nearby villages after holding a funeral for a settler killed in a car crash a night earlier.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the wounded in Deir al-Hatab included a 45-year-old man shot in the foot and a woman suffering from smoke inhalation. Videos obtained by The Associated Press show cars and homes set ablaze as army flares lit up the sky near the village east of Nablus and next to the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh.
The arson and assaults in four Nablus-area villages on Sunday came a day after the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported simultaneous attacks in at least six communities overnight — the latest spates of violence in the occupied West Bank.
Sunday night’s rampage came after mourners in the settlement of Elon Moreh held a funeral for Yehuda Sherman, an 18-year-old Israeli settler. Authorities said he was killed in a collision with a Palestinian vehicle in an area north of the villages attacked. Police said they were investigating the settlers’ claims that the collision was deliberate. Israel’s military did not respond to questions about Sunday night’s attacks.
The violence came as Israel’s government presses ahead with new settlements in the occupied West Bank and attacks by settlers — including arsons, shootings and beatings — have intensified as attention shifts to the Iran war.
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the head of Israel’s military last week condemned such attacks and said it was especially unacceptable during wartime for the military “to confront a threatening minority from within.”
WAFA reported Saturday night’s attacks in the villages of Silat al Dahr and Fandaqumiya, both near Jenin; in Jalud and Salfit, both south of Nablus; and in the agricultural regions Masafer Yatta and the Jordan Valley. Homes and cars were set ablaze, Palestinians were pepper-sprayed and at least five people were wounded in the overnight assaults, which took place during the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the agency said.
Israel’s military said that late Sunday security forces detained five Israeli civilians and confiscated some weapons as they attempted to restore order. It said security forces came under attack from Israeli civilians and a soldier as well as a number of Palestinian civilians were injured.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported 25 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers this year as of March 15.
Four Palestinians killed in Gaza
Also on Sunday, four Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.
One strike hit a vehicle in the central Nuseirat refugee camp and killed three police officers, according to the Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. Ten others were wounded, it said. Another Palestinian was killed in Gaza City, according to Shifa Hospital.
The deaths were the latest fatalities among Palestinians in the coastal enclave since an October ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than 2-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
While the heaviest fighting has subsided, the ceasefire has still seen almost daily Israeli fire. Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently fire on Palestinians near military-held zones, killing more than 670 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on Sunday’s strikes but has previously said Israel will respond to violations of the ceasefire threats to its soldiers.
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Associated Press writers Samy Magdy contributed from Cairo and Melanie Lidman contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.
