Israeli Settlers Burn Houses in Jit and Attack Huwara After Pogrom Remarks by Isaac Herzog

Israeli settlers surged into the village of Jit between Nablus and Qalqiliya, burning houses and cars, after the term “Pogrom” was used by Israeli President Isaac Herzog following the attack.

“Israeli settlers attack the city of Huwara, in the northern West Bank - They attacked Palestinians and their property under the protection of the Israeli army, according to government media and eyewitnesses”

Anadolu Ajansı

L’Humanité said the UN recorded 1,250 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians between October 7 and August 12, framing the Jit assault as part of what it called “total impunity.”

Anadolu Ajansı

In the northern West Bank, Anadolu Ajansı reported Israeli settlers attacked the city of Huwara, south of Nablus, and said clashes erupted in the center of Huwara after an attack by illegal settlers against residents to prevent them from renovating a bakery closed by occupation forces since last October.

Courrier international linked the violence to the death of 14-year-old Israeli shepherd Binyamin Ahimeir, whose body was found the next day after he left the Malachei HaShalom settlement to tend his sheep on April 12 at 6:00 a.m.

Courrier international also reported that during searches to locate Ahimeir, settlers attacked the Palestinian town of Al-Moughaïr, setting houses and cars on fire, killing one person and injuring 25 others in what it called “carnage.”

L’Humanité quoted Hassan Arman, a resident whose car was set on fire, saying, “They came to burn, kill and destroy,” and added that he told AFP he had “never seen anything like this here.”

In the same account, Mouawiya al-Sada described what he said happened to his living room, telling AFP TV, “They first set fire to the house next door, then came here, lit Molotov cocktails and threw them inside,”.

Courrier international

Anadolu Ajansı said the attack on Huwara occurred “under the protection of the Israeli army,” and it cited the Resistance Commission against the Wall and Colonization saying settlers carried out “a total of 1,334 attacks in the West Bank during the first half of 2024.”

Le Devoir reported that AFP journalists saw charred remains of a house and vehicles in the village of Fandaqumiya southwest of Jenin, and it said the Israeli army confirmed the attacks while condemning “all forms of violence.”

Le Devoir also reported that Israeli officials, including the army's chief of staff Eyal Zamir, voiced concern about a rise in settler violence, while it said Palestinian authorities reported “six Palestinians have been killed since March 2 by gunfire from settlers in the West Bank.”

Courrier international said the death of Binyamin Ahimeir was likely to unleash the anger of settlers living in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, where it described tension as “at a boiling point since Hamas's attacks on October 7, 2023.”

“'Pogrom,' the term was used by Israeli President Isaac Herzog after about a hundred settlers surged into the village of Jit between Nablus and Qalqiliya, burning houses and cars”

L'Humanité

Le Devoir reported that since October 7, at least 1,050 Palestinians, including many fighters but also many civilians, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian Authority.

Le Devoir also said that apart from East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank among about three million Palestinians, in settlements that the United Nations regards as illegal under international law.

Anadolu Ajansı added that according to data from Peace Now, nearly half a million Israelis reside in 146 large settlements and 144 outposts established in the West Bank, not counting East Jerusalem.

In a separate incident south of Nablus, WAFA reported that colonists set up tents in the Al-Dhahr area east of the village of Jaloud, describing it as an attempt to seize lands in the region, while also saying settlers attacked the Al-Dhahra area on the outskirts of Beita and assaulted houses and property.