There has been a dramatic escalation of Israeli settler terror with at least 300 attacks backed by the Israeli army on Sunday 26 February, including shootings and arson of more than 30 houses, over 100 cars, businesses, mosques and schools in a rampage through Palestinian villages in the Nablus area of the occupied West Bank.
Earlier, a Palestinian on the ground described it as, “It truly is an Israeli state-sponsored #pogrom in Huwara tonight. 20 Palestinian houses set on fire. Countless cars were burnt. Ambulances & firetrucks were attacked with stones. 98 reported injuries among Palestinians, including people who were stabbed or hit with metal rods. Palestinian officials say, in what has been described as a “pogrom”.”
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said in a statement, “Scenes of burning houses and cars, assault on citizens, preventing fire trucks from reaching burned houses and assaulting ambulances transporting patients and injured – all these crimes must face international intervention soon to hold the occupation authorities and stop them.”
Israeli settlers, protected by Israeli forces, set fire to dozens of vehicles and homes belonging to Palestinians. More than 90 Palestinians were being treated for tear gas inhalation. [Hisham K. K. Abu Shaqra/Anadolu]
The Ramallah-based Al Haq rights groups said the attack was the, “result of decades long impunity enjoyed by Israel & settlers for international crimes committed against Palestinians.”
Another Palestinian tweeted on the rampage, “The Israeli Military worked to secure tonight’s organised pogrom in Huwara. They escorted the mob of violent settlers, & shot at Palestinians who defend their homes & property. It is a night of state-sanctioned terrorism against defenseless Palestinians.”
Yet another one wrote, “The Israeli military knowingly secured the pogrom in Huwara tonight. They literally walked alongside the terrorists, and set up a perimeter to allow Jewish terrorist plenty of time to burn Palestinian homes and properties.”
A statement was issued by Bureau of the UN General Assembly’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People:
The Bureau of the United Nations General Assembly’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People condemns the Israeli forces’ raid in Nablus in the occupied West Bank that killed 11 Palestinians, including an elderly man and a minor, and injured 100 Palestinians to date.
The Bureau is deeply concerned by the deadly cycles of violence and the senseless loss of civilian lives, mainly Palestinians, which keep growing. The Bureau stresses the need for accountability for all illegal Israeli policies and measures in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.
The Bureau reiterates the need for a de-escalation of violence and a just and peaceful resolution of the conflict leading to the unconditional end to Israel’s illegal occupation and establishing a two-State solution, with the achievement of the independence and sovereignty of the Palestinian State based on the 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as capital, and the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including to self-determination, and a just solution for the plight of the Palestine refugees in the context of their right of return, in line with United Nations resolutions, international law and bilateral agreements.
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