close
close

Two Israeli men attacked Palestinian residents, injuring two – Israel News

Two Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians in the Hebron Mount area on Friday, KAN reported. The two masked men were filmed beating the Palestinian citizens before an Israeli soldier arrived and fired into the air to quell the incident.

According to KAN, two Palestinians, a 38-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman, were injured. The woman is still in hospital. The two injured were named by KAN as Annan al-Najjar and Vabha al-Najjar. The former has filed a police report.

The Daily File, an independent Israeli-run organization that advocates for Palestinians and against settler violence, said the woman had a fractured skull and the man had wounds and broken bones.

In the video, the two armed and masked men are seen approaching the Palestinians, some of whom are sitting, others standing, and then attacking them with clubs. A man and a woman defend themselves before falling to the ground, where they continue to be beaten. The man recording the video can be heard repeatedly shouting “Soldier, soldier!” in Hebrew.

Jaafar a-Najjar, a resident of the village of Shi’b al-Butum where the incident occurred, told KAN News that he saw an Israeli herding sheep in the fields near his village and called the police.

Left-wing activists hold up a Palestinian flag during a protest in Tel Aviv against settler violence in Huwara on February 27, 2023. (Source: TOMER NEUBERG/FLASH90)

Although a-Najjar said they would call the army, he told KAN that no one had come after three hours, so he and other residents went to the man and asked him to leave the area.

According to the man, the two masked Israelis arrived five minutes later.

Dispute over stolen sheep

According to A-Najjar, the masked men allegedly accused the Palestinians of stealing their sheep and that they would take them back.

“A soldier and a settler started searching our herd and four of them then came to my brother’s house. He, my uncle and my wife were sitting in the doorway of the house. My brother told them, ‘This is my house’ and there was a beating as you see in the video,” he told KAN.

KAN obtained a separate document that allegedly shows the same Israelis and soldiers approaching the village in the southern Hebron area the morning before the incident.

Palestinian residents said there were five soldiers in the area at the time of the incident.

The injured Palestinians are Annan al-Najjar and Vabha al-Najjar. The two were hospitalized after the incident. The man was released and filed a complaint with the police, who also collected witness statements from Palestinians about the incident.

The IDF spokesman said in response: “We have received documents about an attack on a Palestinian woman and a Palestinian man by a number of masked Israelis in the area south of the Hebron Mountains. One of the IDF soldiers intervened and fired into the air to stop the attack.”

However, according to the KAN report, it is likely that the soldier did not arrive at the scene because of the attack, but had already accompanied the Israelis.