Palestinians bury settler attack victim in West Bank
WEST BANK: A funeral was expected on Sunday for a man Palestinian officials say was killed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Hundreds of Israeli settlers backed by occupation forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching cars and homes, and left at least two villager dead and dozens wounded.
The attacks escalated in multiple villages on Saturday after an Israeli body was found near the Malachei Hashalom settlement outpost.
The mayor of nearby Palestinian village Al-mughayyir, Amin Abu Alyah, said that “dozens of settlers” had attacked it and burnt “everything they find in front of them. They burnt a house, a bulldozer and a number of vehicles.”
Journalists reported Jewish settlers, who were part of a search party for the Israeli Achimeir, firing shots and torching homes and cars while residents responded by throwing stones.
One Palestinian, Jihad Abu Alia, was killed in the violence, with his funeral held on Saturday, while 25 were wounded, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Mustafa condemned the attacks and urged the authorities to help the people of Al-mughayyir.
The violence spread to other parts of the West Bank, with Suleiman Dawabsha, the mayor of Duma near Nablus, saying that Israeli troops and settlers had set fire to more than 15 houses and 10 farms in his village. In Baytin, a village east of Ramallah, a Palestinian teenager, aged 17, was killed, the health ministry said. The funeral was expected to take place on Sunday.