More than 100 illegal Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank, killing one person and setting fire to a home and several vehicles, according to multiple sources.
Witnesses described a pogrom with settlers storming the town of Jit, situated along the main road between Nablus and Qalqilya.
The attackers opened fire at residents, pelted stones at homes, and set fire to at least one house and several vehicles.
Witnesses also said that Israeli occupation forces provided protection to the illegal settlers and prevented Palestinian civil defence vehicles from entering the town.
Citing an Israeli security source, Israeli army radio reported that more than 100 settlers stormed the town.
The source said that the settlers set fire to four homes and six vehicles owned by Palestinians, while hurling stones and Molotov cocktails at residents and their property.
“The incident ended without any arrests, while several Palestinians suffered from inhalation of tear gas” fired by Israeli occupation soldiers, it added.
Over the past few years, the Israeli military has conducted regular raids in the West Bank, which have escalated since the beginning of its war on Gaza in October last year.
At least 632 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,400 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Ministry of Health.
In a landmark advisory opinion on 19 July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) 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 and for reparations to be paid to Palestinians.