Israeli settlers burned West Bank homes, army says

Israeli settlers attacked the small Palestinian community of Khirbet al-Tuba in the occupied West Bank late on August 5, injuring people, burning homes and smashing the community's power source, the Israeli military and residents said.

The Israeli military said it “strongly condemned” the raid and had responded after homes were set on fire and Palestinians were attacked in the area by Israeli civilians. It said several Palestinians were injured, including a girl and a woman, and that several structures were burned. The military said the suspects fled before forces arrived.

AFP journalists in the remote southern community saw buildings blackened by fire and smoke, the interiors of three homes completely burned and Hebrew graffiti sprayed on remaining structures. They also saw that the dozen solar panels used by the isolated community had been smashed and rendered unusable.

Radwan Jundiya, whose house was torched, told AFP that about 40 settlers attacked the hamlet at around 10 pm. He said settlers threw stones, beat his wife and daughter and set a room on fire. Local residents said five people were wounded, including Jundiya's wife and daughter and another child.

Ali Awad, another resident whose son was injured, said residents spent the night putting out fires and helping the wounded. Ibrahim Zein, also from Khirbet al-Tuba, said it was the second settler attack on the community.

Khirbet al-Tuba is a community of about 100 people in Masafer Yatta, an area where shepherding communities face frequent settler violence and home demolitions by the military, which has declared parts of the area an army firing zone.

The army said it would investigate. Palestinians and rights groups say such investigations rarely lead to prosecutions and accuse violent settlers of acting with impunity. Local activist Osama Makhamreh told AFP that when residents had previously filed complaints with Israeli police, the Israeli army arrested Palestinian residents.

About 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank, excluding Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, among about three million Palestinians. Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, are illegal under international law.