Description

Photos:
Scene. Published by IMEMC News and Haaretz

Scenes: Tweeted by Issa Amro

Samah Hamdallah Aktash. Published by WAFA News and Haaretz
____

Israeli Settler Rampage Through W. Bank Town; Palestinians Say One Killed, Dozens Wounded

by Haaretz
UPDATES

1:39 AM
Settlement movement activist: 'Why should we stop? We're protecting the lives of Jews'
Daniella Weiss, a leading figure in the settlement movement, commented on the violent events in Hawara to Israel's Kan public broadcaster on Monday, saying that "'Why should we stop? We're protecting the lives of Jews… It's a shame that the army even arrived here. They should go a catch the attacker [who murdered two Jewish Israelis earlier on Sunday].

Weiss added that as the settlers "Have a lot of guns" so there is no need for a military presence in the sector. "Anyone who thinks that we have to use the army to deal with these attackers and no through strengthening the settlements is mistaken."

Yaniv Kubovich
12:35 AM
Settlers set fire to houses and a sheep pen in the Palestinian village of Burin, north of Hawara

Sources in the Israeli security establishment told Haaretz that in recent hours, settlers have also set fire to vehicles and houses in the Palestinian village of Burin, north of Hawara in the West Bank.

The sources added that the settlers set fire to a pen with dozens of sheep. IDF soldiers managed to rescue some of the livestock.

...

Haaretz
10:37 PM
Deputy head of Samaria Regional Council: 'Hawara needs to be wiped out, no room for mercy'

Deputy head of the Samaria Regional Council, Davidi Ben Zion, wrote on Twitter after the attack that "the village of Hawara should be wiped out today." Ben Zion, who deleted the tweet after Israeli settlers entered the village, added: "Enough with talk about building and strengthening the settlement, the deterrence needs to happen immediately and there is no room for mercy."

Yaniv Kubovich
10:29 PM
Finance Minister Smotrich : 'Let the security forces take care of the situation'
Israel's Finance Minister and minister in the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler who resides in the West Bank settlement of Kdumim, called on his "fellow settler brothers" to resist taking the law into their own hands.

He appealed to the settlers to allow Israeli security forces to "plan the appropriate response and let the military win, with God's help."

Yaniv Kubovich
10:29 PM
IDF chief in Hawara area, defense establishment concerned about wider violent flare-ups
Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Hertzl Halevi arrived to Hawara to closely monitor the events.

The defense establishment is criticizing Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fuchs and Brig. Gen. Avi Blut for their reactions to the settlers' actions. Security officials have said that in the hours after the deadly shooting attack of two Israeli settlers, calls for settlers to gather at Hawara and destroy Palestinian property were already running on social media sites.

The Central Command said that an adequate number of security forces were not prepared for a possible escalation to occur. Concerns throughout the defense establishment are that if security forces can't contain the situation, it could spread throughout the rest of the West Bank and lead to a possible response from Gaza. At the moment, IDF, police and fire teams are working to put out the fires and disperse the settlers from Hawara without success.

Jack Khoury
10:22 PM
37-year-old Palestinian shot dead, 98 wounded, Palestinians report

The Palestinian health ministry reports that 37-year-old Samah Hamdallah Aktash died from gun shots to the stomach and another is seriously injured from head wounds after being hit by a rock. The Palestinian Red Crescent reports that 98 Palestinians have been wounded in the attacks by settlers, along with damage to 3 ambulances.

Yaniv Kubovich
9:21 PM
Israeli army enters Palestinian town to stop rampaging Israeli settlers
An Israeli military reserves battalion arrived at Hawara, south of Nablus, along with fire brigades, and is using riot control equipment to repel the settlers.
_______

Palestinian killed by Israeli settlers near Nablus

WAFA News (Palestinian News Agency)

A Palestinian was Sunday evening killed by Israeli settlers in the village of Za'tara, south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement that Sameh Aqtash, 37, was killed after he was shot with a live bullet during an assault by Israeli settlers and forces in the said village.

Nablus-area villages and towns are currently under massive attacks by Israeli forces and settlers, which resulted so far in killing one Palestinian, injuring more than a 100 and setting fire to dozens of homes, vehicles and structures.

With the killing of Aqtash, the number of Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of 2023 rises to 66, including four killed by Israeli settlers' gunfire, 13 children, four elderlies and one prisoner behind Israeli bars.

K.T.
____

Israeli Colonizers Burn Hundreds of Palestinian Homes and Cars

by IMEMC News
Feb 27, 2023

Israeli paramilitary settler militias invaded the Palestinian village of Huwwara on Sunday night, torching hundreds of Palestinian homes and cars, setting most of the village on fire.

Israeli soldiers were present during the attack, but refused to intervene to stop the paramilitary assault on the Palestinian civilians. Palestinian civilians, running for their lives out of their burning homes, begged the Israeli soldiers to stop the Israeli settlers, but they refused.

Instead of stopping the unbridled arson attack, the Israeli military decided to launch their own invasion of the entire district of Nablus. The Israeli military, which controls all Palestinian areas of the West Bank, and rules the Palestinians under martial law, sent two additional battalions to patrol the streets and ransack Palestinian civilian homes in the Nablus area. The army also set up ‘mobile checkpoints’ on several roads to the city of Nablus, and searched Palestinian cars, causing severe delays for workers and students.

The Israeli Military Minister, Yoav Galant, ordered increased security in Israeli colonial settlements and Jewish-only apartheid roads in the West Bank.

In addition, Galant decided to increase the state of alert in Jerusalem and on the border with Gaza, claiming that the increased measures, and collective punishment of Palestinian civilians, was meant to ‘stop any additional attacks’ by Palestinian fighters.

One unnamed Israeli official told the Israeli news channel 12 that he is concerned that “the wave of operations and settler attacks will turn into an intifada, and we will find ourselves in a tsunami of terror.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of Israeli paramilitary colonizers invaded the village of Hawara and set fire to more than 100 houses.

Palestinian firefighters and civilians worked hard to put out the fires. The preliminary assessment of damage found that at least 100 cars were burned. 35 houses were completely burned. 40 houses were partially burned.

In a separate but related incident, also on Sunday night, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian civilian, Sameh Aktash, 37, in Za’tara village in the northern West Bank.

According to the Israeli Channel 12, the Israeli army is considering setting up barriers around the city of Nablus, fully encircling the city with a wall, making it an imprisoned city like the city of Qalqilia. The Palestinian city of Qalqilia, in the western part of the West Bank, has been completely enclosed and encircled by the Israeli Wall since 2003.
____

via Twitter

Issa Amro عيسى عمرو

Features