At least six Palestinians were injured this evening after being beaten up and pepper sprayed during an Israeli settlers’ attack against residents in the town of Huwwara to the south of Nablus, the occupied West Bank, according to Ahmad Jibril, the head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency and Ambulance Department in Nablus. He told WAFA that five Palestinians were injured after being attacked by settlers and were taken to a medical center in Huwwara for treatment. He added that settlers tried to prevent the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance’s access to Huwwara. They further attacked the ambulance while first-aid workers were attempting to transfer the injured to the medical center, shattering its windshield and rear windscreen. confrontations reportedly broke out between Israeli forces and the town residents as the latter attempted to fend off the settlers’ attack. In a subsequent development, settlers attacked residents’ homes and vehicles in the same town, setting fire to a truck belonging to one of the local residents. They also attacked ambulances present at the scene, said Ghassan Daghlas, an official in charge of the settlements file in the north of the occupied territories. Ahmad Jibril, the head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency and Ambulance Department in Nablus, said that the ambulance crew dealt with one injury to the head. ‘Settler violence and vandalism take place with full backing by the Israeli authorities. Sometimes soldiers take part in the assault; at other times, they stand idly by. The police make no substantial effort to investigate the incidents, nor takes measures to prevent them or stop them in real-time,’ it said. Israel benefits from the repercussions, as settler violence has gradually dispossessed Palestinians of more and more areas in the West Bank, paving the way for a state takeover of land and resources, said B’Tselem.
Source: Palestine News & Information Agency