Hamas condemns attack by illegal Israeli settlers on Palestinian village

By Mohamed Majid

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Hamas condemned an attack by illegal Israeli settlers Thursday on the village of Jit in the northern West Bank in which they killed one Palestinian and set fire to homes and vehicles belonging to residents.

“The Nazi occupation's aggression through its armed illegal settlers on the village of Jit east of Qalqilya this evening, along with the burning and abuse, is part of a series of crimes by the occupation in the West Bank,” Abdel Rahman Shadid, a Hamas leader, said in a statement.

Shadid called on Palestinians in the West Bank “to further rise up against the occupation and its settlers and to confront their brutal attacks by all possible means.”

More than 100 illegal Israeli settlers attacked Jit, located along the main road between Nablus and Qalqilya, according to multiple sources.

Witnesses said that Israeli forces provided protection to the illegal settlers and prevented Palestinian civil defense vehicles from entering the village.

Citing an Israeli security source, Israel’s Army Radio reported that more than 100 settlers stormed the village.

The source said the settlers set fire to four homes and six vehicles owned by Palestinians while hurling stones and Molotov cocktails at residents and their property.

Over the past few years, the Israeli military has conducted regular raids in the West Bank, which have escalated with the beginning of the war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.

At least 633 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,400 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.

In a landmark advisory opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio