Two Palestinians killed in West Bank settler attack, health ministry says
The US state department said it was "aware of reports of the death of a US citizen in the West Bank", and that it had no further comment "out of respect for the privacy of the family".Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state - during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.The settlements are considered illegal under international law - a position supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last year - although Israel disputes this.
Sayfollah Musallet, a businessman whose nickname was Saif, travelled from his home in Tampa to the West Bank on 4 June, according to his family.A statement alleged that he was "brutally beaten to death by Israeli settlers while he was protecting his family's land from settlers who were attempting to steal it"."Israeli settlers surrounded Saif for over three hours as paramedics attempted to reach him, but the mob of settlers blocked the ambulance and paramedics from providing life-saving aid.""After the mob of Israeli settlers cleared, Saif's younger brother rushed to carry his brother to the ambulance. Saif died before making it to the hospital."The statement added: "We demand the US state department lead an immediate investigation and hold the Israeli settlers who killed Saif accountable for their crimes."Official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Mohammed al-Shalabi was from the town of al-Mazraa al-Sharqiya, just south of Sinjil.It cited the Palestinian health ministry as saying that he was shot in the chest by settlers, during the same attack in which Sayfollah Musallet was killed.He was left bleeding for hours before paramedics were able to reach him, it added.Wafa reported than another 10 Palestinians from Sinjil and neighbouring areas were injured in the clashes with settlers who were armed with automatic rifles.The Israeli military said in a statement on Friday night that "terrorists hurled rocks at Israeli civilians adjacent to Sinjil", lightly injuring two of them."A violent confrontation developed in the area involving Palestinians and Israeli civilians, which included vandalism of Palestinian property, arson, physical clashes, and rock hurling."The military said soldiers, police and paramilitary Border Police forces were dispatched to the area and "used riot dispersal means in response to the violent confrontation".It added that it was "aware of reports regarding a Palestinian civilian killed and a number of injured Palestinians as a result of the confrontation", and that they were being looked into by the Shin Bet security service and the Israel Police.When asked by the BBC on Saturday for a response to the reports that a second Palestinian was killed, the military said: "The situation is under review".There has been a surge in violence in the West Bank since Hamas's attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.The UN says at least 910 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, 13 by Israeli settlers, and another seven by either Israeli forces or settlers. At least 44 Israelis have also been killed in Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank.There has been a sharp increase in the number and severity of settler attacks in the West Bank over the same period. The UN says there were 136 attacks by settlers resulting in casualties or property damage in May alone.On Thursday, a 22-year-old Israeli security guard Shalev Zvuluny was shot and killed when two Palestinian men opened fire and tried to stab passerbys in the car park of a shopping centre in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, in the south of the West Bank.The attackers were shot dead by soldiers and armed civilians present at the scene, police said.
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
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Moment protester at anti-migrant demo is run over by a police van: Thugs clash with officers near asylum hotel after Ethiopian resident was charged over schoolgirl sex assault
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The van was eventually forced to flee with its back doors wide open. The agitators also threw fireworks and bottles at police as they sought to protect anti-racism counter-demonstrators. Essex Police reported that one officer sustained a minor neck injury in the course of policing the protest. The force also said that they had already identified several suspects they believe are responsible for damaging police vehicles, the hotel, and assaulting officers. Officers on patrol also arrested a man on suspicion of affray, following an assault reported close to The Bell Hotel on Sunday evening. Police armed with riot shields form a barrier across the road following a major public order incident in Epping on Thursday Dean Walters, 65, of Corner Meadow in Harlow, has been charged with affray and released on bail to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on September 24, with stringent conditions until then. The latest unrest has been triggered after Ethiopian asylums seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with a number of sexual offences. He was arrested by officers on July 8 after reports of a man acting inappropriately towards a number of people. Kebatu appeared at Colchester Magistrates' Court on Thursday, July 10, and denied all offences. Kebatu was charged with three counts of sexual assault, as well as one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and one count of harassment without violence. At the protest well-dressed mothers stood side-by-side with retired businessmen and women and dozens of bald tattooed middle-aged men to call for the hotel to stop operating as refugee accommodation. One bearded man wearing shorts draped a union flag over his shoulders as he took selfie pictures outside the embattled hostel. Essex Police were out in force in the picturesque commuter town - blocking the entrance to the hotel car park with a riot van. One of the demonstrators told how the 'whole of Epping' was united in opposition to housing asylum seekers in their town. The 74-year-old retired company director who declined to give his name said: 'We are all absolutely sick of it. They should all be sent back to where they've come from. If they came in a small boat from France then they should be sent back to France. 'It's absolutely outrageous that we have to pay for them - the food, their accommodation, their phones, everything. 'How is it that our children can't walk home from school without being attacked?' A mother-of-three added: 'This is not about being racist, it's about protecting our children. There are a load of schools near here and there are all these single men here in the hotel and no one knows who they are. 'They've not been screened, or checked or anything.' One man held a flag of St George with the slogan written in black: 'Save Our Kids'. 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Daily Mail
an hour ago
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Girl, 17, fights for life with 95% burns after she was set on fire by 'boat migrant who was due to be deported from Spain'
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The Independent
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