Jerusalem
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On Monday, dozens of Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian vehicles and homes in an occupied West Bank village after Israeli forces destroyed illegal settler outpost structures in the area.
Two videos geolocated by CNN show multiple vehicles and a building on fire after the attack in the Palestinian village of Jhabua, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) southwest of Bethlehem. Video shows villagers struggling to put out the flames.
Surveillance cameras in Jabua showed dozens of masked men breaking into homes and setting vehicles on fire.
Diab Mashaleh, chairman of the Jhabua village council, told Palestinian state news agency Wafa on Monday that settlers attacked the village and set fire to three homes and three vehicles.
He said villagers were able to extinguish the fire with “no injuries reported” but “significant property damage was caused to targeted homes and vehicles.”
The attack is the latest in a surge of increasingly brazen settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank. In an unusual move, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the violence, saying it was the work of “small extremist groups that do not represent settlers” in the West Bank.
“I will personally address this issue and convene the relevant ministers as soon as possible to deal with this serious phenomenon,” he said, referring to far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is apparently an ardent supporter of reconciliation.
Dozens of Israeli civilians set fires and destroyed homes and vehicles in Java “after clearing illegal structures,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
“Israeli security forces at the scene are conducting searches to locate those involved. The incident is still ongoing,” the statement said.
Violent clashes broke out between Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank early Monday after security forces destroyed several structures at an illegal settler outpost near Metzad in an unprecedented move by the current government, according to a joint statement issued by the Israeli army and police. The outposts are illegal under international and Israeli law.
The clash left several Border Police personnel and “combatants” injured, the statement said. Metzad, also known as Asfar, is an Israeli settlement in the Gash Etzion area of the occupied West Bank.
Israeli security forces from several divisions, in cooperation with the Civil Administration, began removing and demolishing several illegal structures early Monday, according to military and police statements.
“During the operation, dozens of people barricaded themselves, hundreds of people rioted, and violent riots occurred, including assaults on security forces by throwing stones and objects such as iron bars, and the burning of tires and vehicles,” the joint statement said.
Israeli security forces arrested six suspects during the clashes.
In response to the settler attack, the IDF said in a statement that it “sternly views and condemns all types of violence as undermining regional security.” The IDF added: “Violent incidents divert the attention of commanders and soldiers from defense and counterterrorism missions.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz expressed full support for the Israeli military in a statement on Monday. “We will not tolerate attempts by small, violent anarchist criminal groups to take the law into their own hands and corrupt the settler masses, and we will not allow them to harm IDF soldiers,” Katz said.
