Israeli settlers have killed two Palestinians since Friday, in a series of rampage attacks on Palestinian villages in the region east of Ramallah. The two martyrs were identified as Jihad Abu Alia, 25, from the village of al-Mughayyir, and Omar Hamed, 17, from the village of Beitin.
The attacks came following the disappearance of a 14-year-old Israeli settler noon on Friday near al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah.
Israeli forces launched a search campaign in the area that continued through the night, blocking village entrances and firing flares while flying drones and helicopters. The missing settler teenager was found dead on Saturday in a hilly area between the villages of Duma and al-Mughayyir.
Settlers attacks, which started shortly after the news of the teenager’s disappearance, mainly targeted al-Mughayyir and then extended to the villages of Beitin, Sinjel, and Duma, along the eastern line of the central West Bank, between the northeast of Ramallah and southeast of Nablus.
“Settlers began to attack the village by the hundreds at around 11 a.m., completely out of nowhere,” Muslim Dawabsheh, a resident and media officer at the municipality of Duma, told Mondoweiss.
“I estimated, at first look, that at least 600 settlers had come through the village’s entrance, many carrying firearms, and they began to shoot, while some attacked houses and attempted to set them on fire,” described Dawabsheh.
“A man rushed out of his house trying to stop the settlers, but they stabbed him in the shoulder several times, as other settlers prevented fire trucks from entering the village for three hours,” Dawabsheh detailed.
“Another group of residents rushed to a house where women and children were trapped and settlers were in the courtyard breaking windows, but settlers opened fire at them and prevented them from coming closer,” he went on.
“The attack lasted eight hours, and settlers withdrew at around 7 p.m. During that entire time, the occupation army was stationed on the main road and just kept looking on,” he noted.
“I personally counted 21 houses and at least 30 cars burned. Four people were wounded with gunfire and six with stabs, all medium wounds,” he added.
In 2015, Israeli settlers invaded the village of Duma in an overnight arson attack, firebombing two homes and killing 18-month-old toddler, Ali Dawabsheh. Ali’s parents, Riham and Saad Dawabsheh, died of their burns a few weeks later, leaving their 5-year-old son Ahmad as the family’s sole survivor.
In Mughayyir, settlers attacked the town twice, killing a resident of the village. Bashir Abu Mousa, a resident of Mughayyir and an eyewitness, told Mondoweiss that “settlers came on Friday at noon by the dozens from the settlement of Shilo up the hill. They first attacked the farmers in the plain outside the village.”
“Then they began to steal the livestock from a barrack, and when the owner, a woman, tried to defend her sheep, a settler shot her in the leg. Then they moved on to the village,” Abu Mousa said.
“For six hours, settlers attacked people in their homes. A young man, Jihad Abu Alia, who was trying to defend his home by throwing stones from his rooftop, was shot by a settler and killed,” he pointed out.
“On Saturday, settlers came back and did the same for three hours, and they even stopped a fire truck trying to reach burning houses and set it on fire, too,” he detailed. “In total, settlers killed a young man in Duma and wounded some 50, most in the lower limbs, and burned eight houses and five livestock barracks,” he added.
Meanwhile, Israeli settlers blocked several roads through the eastern Ramallah region, isolating some ten villages from Ramallah city. Settlers were reported attacking Palestinian cars with rocks, forcing public transportation to stop for most of Saturday.
Israeli settler attacks on rural Palestinian areas skyrocketed since October 7. According to the Palestinian grassroots campaign, Stop The Wall, some 25 Palestinian rural communities have been completely depopulated by Israeli settlers.
With the killing of Jihad Abu Alia and Omar Hamed, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the occupied West Bank since October 7 has risen to 465.
Israel – sending its trailer-trash to terrorise Palestinians since 1967.
Lightening should strike all!