Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian village in West Bank

Dozens of Israeli settlers set fire to homes and cars in a village in the occupied West Bank, with the Palestinian health ministry saying at least one person was killed.

Settlers – some of whom wore masks – threw stones and Molotov cocktails as they attacked the village of Jit, near the city of Nablus, on Thursday evening, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said a villager in his 20s was killed and another person was seriously wounded in the chest. The Israeli military said it was studying the death report.

Israeli political leaders condemned the attack and vowed to punish the perpetrators. An Israeli national was arrested in Jit, the Israeli military said.

Images were circulated on social media showing houses and vehicles set on fire in Jit on Thursday evening.

Plumes of smoke can be seen rising above the village.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that “those responsible for any criminal acts will be arrested and prosecuted.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote in a message on X: “This is an extreme minority that is damaging the law-abiding settler community and the settlement as a whole, as well as Israel’s name and status in the world during a particularly sensitive and difficult time.

“Law enforcement must act immediately” to bring those responsible to justice, Herzog added.

In a statement, the Israeli military said its forces were deployed to the village “within minutes” of receiving reports of violence, firing into the air to disperse the crowd. The attackers were later evacuated from Jit.

The Israeli military added that an investigation has been opened by the Israeli army, the Israeli security agency Shin Bet and the Israeli police following this “serious incident.”

Palestinians regularly accuse Israeli security forces of allowing violent settler groups to attack their villages.

According to OCHA – the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs – There have been more than 1,000 settler attacks on Palestinians since October, with at least 1,390 people – including 660 children – displaced.

These attacks have often been accompanied by deadly violence. OCHA has recorded 107 attacks resulting in Palestinian deaths and injuries, and 859 attacks resulting in material damage to Palestinians.

International attention has focused on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip – but the scale of settler violence has prompted the US, EU and UK to impose sanctions on some settler leaders and, for the first time, entire settler outposts.