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Photos:
Scenes. Published by Maan News
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NABLUS (Ma'an) -- A group of Israeli settlers assaulted and wounded a Palestinian teenager near Israel’s illegal Homesh settlement in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus on Wednesday.

Locals told Ma’an that 16-year-old Osama Jamil Daghlas, from the Burqa village, sustained wounds across his body after being assaulted by several settlers at the main road near the Homesh settlement, where locals said the settlers reside.

According to locals, the settlers struck the minor with sharp objects and wood, and stripped off his clothes.

When the settlers finally released Daghlas, he was taken to Nablus’ Rafidiya governmental hospital for treatment.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that the army was not involved in the incident. An Israeli police spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

An upwards of some 600,000 Israeli settlers reside in occupied Palestinian territory in violation of international law. The international community has repeatedly called their presence and rising population the main impediment to potential peace in the region.

The UN reported last month that after a three-year decline of settler attacks on Palestinians, the first half of 2017 showed a major increase in such attacks, with 89 incidents being documented so far this year, representing an 88 percent increase compared to 2016. The attacks during this time period have led to the deaths of three Palestinians.

Palestinian activists and rights groups have long accused Israel of fostering a “culture of impunity” for Israeli settlers and soldiers committing violent acts against Palestinians.

Israeli authorities served indictments in only 8.2 percent of cases of Israeli settlers committing anti-Palestinian crimes in the occupied West Bank in the past three years, according to Israeli NGO Yesh Din.