More than 100 Israeli settlers on Tuesday attacked a village in the north of the occupied West Bank, wounding three members of Israel’s security forces and burning two Palestinian homes, authorities and residents said.
The attack occurred while the military was attempting to accompany a Palestinian family back to their home in the village of Jalud after they had been displaced by settler attacks two months earlier.
Tuesday’s assault received rare strong criticism from Israeli officials, while police said they had arrested one person and taken two minors in for questioning.
Photo: AP
The Israeli military said “more than 100 Israeli rioters” were in the area of Jalud overnight as security forces attempted to return the family to their home, adding that soldiers and border police forces had operated to disperse the settlers.
“As a result of the clashes, three Israel Border Police officers were lightly injured, and a security forces vehicle was damaged,” it said in a statement.
The military said the settlers had blocked roads, set tires on fire and thrown rocks at security forces, as well as setting fire to Palestinian buildings and vehicles in the village.
It added that the attack had prevented the return of the family, who had been displaced “following several incidents of [Israeli] nationalist crime against them.”
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, where 500,000 Israeli settlers live among 3 million Palestinians.
Mahmoud al-Toubasi, a member of the family, said that he and his relatives had left the house more than two months ago, and that it had been occupied by settlers until the attack on Tuesday.
“My wife, my son and I went to the house in the car, accompanied by an army vehicle in front of us and another behind us,” he said.
Settlers attacked the group upon their arrival at the house and were pushed back by soldiers with pepper spray, he added.
“We were not physically injured, but we suffered some choking from the pepper spray,” Toubasi said.
Israeli police said they had arrested one suspect and taken two minors in for questioning.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack, which he blamed on a “small group of rioters.”
He said “their actions cause great harm to that community and interfere with our forces as they carry out their mission.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said “the arson, stone-throwing, assault, and injury of IDF [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers and Border Police officers ... are strictly forbidden and can have no justification whatsoever.”
Violence has increased in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, with Israeli soldiers or settlers killing at least 1,111 Palestinians in that period, including militants and civilians, per an Agence France-Presse tally based on data from the Palestinian health ministry.
Israeli figures show at least 49 Israelis, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations during the same period.
Several areas of Thailand’s capital city Bangkok were inundated by continuous rain from Thursday afternoon to yesterday morning that has disrupted traffic and forced some residents to evacuate. Major canals in Bangkok filled with accumulated rainfall exceeding 20cm, officials said yesterday. Floodwaters spread across the city, particularly in the central and eastern parts, blocking roads and stopping traffic. The Thai Meteorological Department warned that the heavy rain would continue in most parts of the country through today, citing a strong low-pressure system over the central region and strengthening southwest monsoon conditions. More than 84,000 people in 21 provinces nationwide were
BAD TIMING: The disclosure of the incident, which is under investigation by at least two congressional committees, comes as Xi was to meet with Trump The Pentagon is investigating how parts of the US’ most advanced fighter jet ended up in Hong Kong, with a news outlet on Wednesday reporting that China has obtained the F-35 equipment. The F-35 Joint Program Office said in a statement that it and the US Department of Defense are aware of “a shipment issue” with F-35 components. “We are actively working with US authorities and industry partners to retrieve these components, investigate the incident and place safeguards to avoid a future occurrence,” the office said. UPS was shipping a cockpit canopy and weapons-bay door from an Australian military F-35 that was being
Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition early yesterday said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles and two drones launched by the Iran-backed Houthis toward the kingdom. The coalition said in posts on social media that the missiles were headed towards Khamis Mushait and the drones toward the capital, Riyadh, adding that it was monitoring the missile threat and drones launched at the kingdom, without providing further details. The Saudi Civil Defense had sent alerts overnight for Khamis Mushait and Abha, but not for Riyadh. The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen and much of the north, have been launching attacks
OLD WOUNDS: Protestant marchers seized on an overturned injunction to stage a march, which drew thousands of counterprotesters to block the road in Portadown UK leaders called for calm as a tense standoff with residents seeking to halt a pro-British Protestant march through a primarily Catholic area stretched into the night on Sunday, in one of the worst crises for Northern Ireland in the past few years. The tensions were triggered after a Belfast appeal court overturned a High Court injunction in the early hours of Sunday to clear the march by the Orange Order to go ahead for the first time since 1997. The Parades Commission, Northern Ireland’s independent body regulating contentious processions, had authorized 35 Orangemen to march silently along Garvaghy Road in Portadown,
RSS