‘We’ll come back and kill you’: Settlers tell Jit residents after raid
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Israeli settlers have conducted a violent raid on a West Bank village, leaving behind destruction, terror, and grief.
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A young girl comforts the mother of a 23-year-old Palestinian man who was killed during an attack by Jewish settlers on the village of Jit near Nablus, on August 16, 2024. (AFP)
Over 100 Israeli settlers attacked the West Bank village of Jit on Friday, setting fire to Palestinian homes and cars while armed with guns and Molotov cocktails.
The settlers, going on a rampage, shot and killed a Palestinian youth.
Residents recounted the aggression, with Hassan Arman describing that the aim of the Israeli settlers who attacked his village was "to burn, kill, or destroy," all of which occurred that night.
The settlers were donned "in full uniform, armed with knives, a machine gun, and a silencer," Arman said, recalling the scene of when the attackers reached his home. The Palestinian man's car was also set on fire and destroyed during the raid, stating he had "never seen anything like it" when he opened the burnt vehicle door.
“After they burned the house there, they came to this house, broke the windows, and threw firebombs — Molotov cocktails — inside,” 38-year-old father of five, Muawiya al-Sada told Reuters, detailing the burnt wooden frame of the sofa and the glass shards littering the floor.
Upon returning to his home with his family, Sada recalled the settlers' taunts, asserting, "We will come back and kill you!" while telling them to leave for Jordan or Syria.
Israeli settlers kill 23-year-old Palestinian man
23-year-old Rasheed Seda was shot and killed during the violent settler aggression on Jit while he was attempting to fend off the attackers with a group of young locals, the head of Jit's local council and the martyr's relative, Nasser Seda, told Ynet news website.
“If our young people hadn’t gone out to try to repel the settlers, it could have been a much greater disaster,” Seda said.
Sed'a funeral was held on Friday, where he was carried through the streets while wrapped in the Palestinian flag.
The Palestinian Authority's Health Minister also declared another local civilian was also shot and critically wounded by the settlers.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called the attack "organized state terrorism," describing the settlers' rampage as a serious escalation in ongoing crimes against Palestinians. It demanded "deterrent sanctions against the racist colonial system, the dismantling of terrorist settler gangs, and the prosecution of their members."
Since the beginning of the occupation's ongoing genocide in Gaza, there have been over 630 West Bank Palestinians killed by the IOF.
World condemns 'horrific', 'unacceptable' Qalqilya settlers aggression
The US, UK, France, and Germany, as well as the UN and the EU Foreign Policy chief, have condemned the "unacceptable" violence by Israeli settlers in Qalqilya.
The White House described the attacks as "unacceptable" and said they "must stop", calling on Israeli authorities to protect "all communities from harm, this includes intervening to stop such violence, and holding all perpetrators of such violence to account."
David Lammy, the British Foreign Minister, called the deadly attack on Jit "abhorrent" and condemned it "in the strongest of terms".
"The scenes overnight of the burning and the torching of buildings, of the Molotov cocktails thrown at cars... and chasing of people from their homes is abhorrent, and I condemn it in the strongest of terms," he said to reporters in a visit to occupied al-Quds.
Germany also denounced the attack as "unacceptable" with Berlin's Foreign Ministry posting on X: "We condemn the violence of extremist settlers."
"This violence is unacceptable, the attacks must stop immediately," according to the statement. "Palestinians have a right to live in safety. Israel has an obligation to protect Palestinians in the West Bank."
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne criticized the attack and called it "unacceptable". warning that it might jeopardize Gaza ceasefire talks.
While in occupied al-Quds, Sejourne noted that "any action that could jeopardize the negotiation process towards a ceasefire deal is unacceptable."
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack, describing it as a "continued terrorist attack."
'Sanctions must be on our EU agenda': Borrell on Israeli MPs
The European Union should consider imposing sanctions against Israeli far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for comments constituting "incitement to war crimes," the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Sunday.
“Sanctions must be on our EU agenda,” Borrell wrote on X, adding, "I urge the Israeli government to unequivocally distance itself from these incitements to commit war crimes, and call it to engage in good faith in the negotiations facilitated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt for an immediate ceasefire."
Borrell also condemned Security Minister Ben-Gvir urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut off all humanitarian aid and fuel to the Gaza Strip during the occupation's ongoing genocide.
The top diplomat described Finance Minister Smotrich's remarks on starving two million Gazans by withholding aid in exchange for Israeli captives as "sinister," contrasting the Israeli minister claiming the approach is "justified and moral."
Volker Turk, the United Nations rights chief, condemned the Israeli Minister's statements, requesting an investigation and punishment if a crime is found.
