Israeli settlers set fire to houses in a West Bank village

Footage has emerged purportedly showing cars and houses set ablaze in the village of Jit late on Thursday

Dozens of Israeli settlers have set fire to houses and cars in a village in the occupied West Bank, with the Palestinian health ministry saying at least one person was killed.

The settlers – some of them wearing masks – threw rocks and Molotov cocktails as they attacked the village of Jit, near the town of Nablus, on Thursday evening, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

The Palestinian health ministry said a local villager in his early 20s was killed and another person critically injured in the chest. The IDF said it was examining the report of the fatality.

Israeli political leaders condemned the attack, pledging to punish the perpetrators. One Israeli national was detained in Jit, the IDF said.

Israeli political leaders condemned the attack, pledging to punish the perpetrators. One Israeli national was detained in Jit, the IDF said.

“Law enforcement officials must act immediately” to bring those responsible to justice, Mr Herzog added.

In a statement, the IDF said its forces were deployed in the village “within minutes” of receiving reports of violence, shooting in the air to disperse the crowds. Attackers were then removed from Jit.

The IDF added that an investigation was launched by the IDF, Israel’s security agency Shin Bet and the Israeli police following the “serious incident”.

Palestinians regularly accuse Israeli security forces of allowing groups of violent settlers to attack their villages.

According to OCHA – the UN office for Humanitarian Affairs – there have been more than 1,000 attacks by settlers against Palestinians since October, with at least 1,390 people – including 660 children – displaced.

Lethal violence has frequently accompanied the attacks. OCHA recorded 107 that led to Palestinian fatalities and injuries, 859 causing damage to Palestinian property.

International attention has been focused on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip – but the scale of settler violence has prompted the US, the EU and the UK to impose sanctions on some settler leaders and, for the first time, against entire settler outposts.

BBC