Monitoring Desk
JERUSALEM: Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank after a Palestinian gunman shot two Israeli settlers dead.
The Palestinian health ministry said that one Palestinian man was killed, and over 100 others were injured in the overnight violence near Nablus.
According to a local official, dozens of cars and houses were also burnt.
It followed the killings of the two Israeli settlers – brothers from a nearby settlement – along a highway.
The Israeli military said it continued searching for the Palestinian who shot Yagel Yaniv, 20, and Hillel Yaniv, 22, and that it had moved in extra forces.
Earlier on Sunday, Palestinian and Israeli officials had pledged to de-escalate tensions at a meeting in Jordan.
Videos posted hours after the meeting ended showed a large number of Israeli settlers entering the Hawara village, throwing stones and lighting fires.
A Palestinian official monitoring settlement in the Nablus area, Ghassan Daghlas, told the Palestinian Wafa news agency that around 30 houses were damaged by stones or burned down, and 15 vehicles were torched.
He said settlers also set three vehicles and a barn on fire in nearby Burin, a water tank, and a house in Asira al-Qabaliyya.
The Palestinian health ministry said young man Sameh Aqtash died after being shot during an attack by settlers in Zaatara.
Palestinian President holds Israel responsible for West Bank attack
This region of the West Bank falls under complete Israeli control, and Palestinians criticized Israeli security forces for failing to ensure protection.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held the Israeli government fully responsible for “the terrorist acts carried out by Israeli settlers.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked settlers to allow the Israeli security forces to focus on finding the gunman who killed the two Israeli settlers.
The Israeli brothers were driving through Hawara village when a Palestinian rammed into their car and shot them.
Settlers had announced a march to Hawara to take “revenge” for the deadly attack on the Israeli brothers who lived in the settlement of Har Bracha.
The two settlers were driving through Hawara village when a Palestinian man shot them both several times.
So far, no Palestinian militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the gunman reportedly wore a shirt bearing the symbol of the Nablus-based Lions’ Den.
