Israeli settlers charged with terrorism for axe attack on Palestinians

Two settlers have been charged with “committing an act of terror” after an axe attack on a Palestinian family in the occupied West Bank, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency said.

The attack occurred on March 6 in the northern West Bank town of Huwara.

The town was the scene of mob violence on February 26, when hundreds of Israeli settlers burnt houses and property in a rampage thatkilled one Palestinian.

That attack came hours after two settlers were shot dead there by a Palestinian.

In the March 6 incident, security camera footage showed two assailants throwing stones at a Palestinian car. One is then seen repeatedly striking one of the windows with what appears to be an axe, before the car drives away.

The pair – one a resident of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar and the other who lives in the unauthorised outpost of Givat Ronen – were charged on Thursday with committing an act of terrorism and intentional sabotage of a vehicle with racist intent, Shin Bet said.

On seeing the settlers emerge from two vehicles armed with an axe, hammer, stones and pepper spray, shoppers rushed into a supermarket and closed its metal shutters to protect themselves.

A Palestinian couple and their toddler daughter remained in their car as one of settlers allegedly threw stones at the vehicle while the other allegedly used an axe to break the windows and attack the father.

The father suffered wounds to his shoulder and arm from the axe attack, and was then hit in the head with a rock as the family drove away.

The pair were charged with “a severe act of terror” and “racially motivated” damage, which prosecutors allege had “an ideological or nationalistic motive”.

Shin Bet said the settlers belonged to a “violent group” that tries to harm Palestinians and disrupt the activities of the Israeli military in the area.

“The Shin Bet sees these acts, which are carried out under nationalistic motives, as a danger to national security,” the agency said.

Two soldiers were wounded in an Israeli missile attack near Damascus, Syria’s Defence Ministry has said.

The attack “injured two soldiers and caused some material losses”, state news outlet Sana reported.

“At around 1.20am, the Israeli

enemy carried out an aerial aggression from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights targeting several positions in the vicinity of Damascus,” Sana said.

Syria’s air defence intercepted several missiles, the ministry said.

Explosions were heard in the Syrian capital early on Thursday morning, AFP reported. During more than a decade of war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on Syrian territory, mainly against Iranbacked forces and Hezbollah fighters, as well as Syrian army positions.

While Israel rarely comments on the strikes it carries out on Syria, it has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to extend its presence there.

Last week, an Israeli missile strike destroyed a suspected arms depot used by Iranbacked militias at Syria’s Aleppo airport, a war monitor said.

On March 7, three people were killed in an Israeli strike on the airport that put it out of service. It reopened three days later. The Syrian war broke out in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful anti-government protests, and escalated to a deadly armed conflict that pulled in foreign powers and global extremists.

About half a million people have been killed and half of Syria’s prewar population forced from their homes.