Israeli settlers rampage through a West Bank town, killing one person and setting fire to houses

Dozens of masked and armed Israeli settlers entered the Palestinian town of Jit in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, setting fire to houses and killing at least one Palestinian in what human rights activists and Israel's president called a pogrom.

At least 100 Israeli settlers entered the village overnight, some media reported. They burned houses and cars, shot at Palestinians and damaged water tanks. Photos and videos of the attack show the fire spreading throughout the town and dark clouds of smoke hanging in the air. Settlers threw a firebomb at a house where a family was staying. Haaretz reported, citing a “security source.” The family survived, but the house was badly damaged.

One man, 23-year-old Mahmoud Abdel Qader Saddam, was shot dead by settlers in the attack, and another Palestinian was seriously wounded by gunfire, Palestinian health officials said. Others were injured by stones thrown by settlers.

“They were masked, dressed in black, armed and some had knives,” said Hassan, a resident of Jit. Haaretz“It seemed planned. They didn't look like children, they looked like adults. When I went outside to see what was going on, they attacked me with tear gas. They set fire to my car and smashed another one, and then they continued attacking into the village after attacking more cars nearby. The army arrived about an hour later, they took their time and let them do what they wanted.”

Israeli officials reportedly issued statements condemning the attack, but did nothing to stop it as it was still ongoing. So far, no one has been arrested in connection with the attack, apart from one Israeli who was taken into custody for allegedly attacking a police officer. He was released shortly afterward.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the attack a “pogrom”; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the unrest, saying it should have been carried out by Israeli occupation forces and implying that the Palestinians in the village were terrorists.

Even Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich condemned the uprising – but only to seemingly reinforce his own extremist sentiments. Without evidence, he said that the perpetrators of the attack do not represent Israeli settlers in general – even though the Israeli settlers supported by Smotrich have been carrying out similar attacks for many years. “We are building and developing settlements in a legal and official way,” Smotrich wrote on social media – a blatant lie that runs counter to the rulings of the International Court of Justice.

Jit is right next to the illegal Israeli settlement of Kedumim, where Smotrich lives. Smotrich has led Israel's push into the West Bank and has expanded its illegal settlements there in recent years at a pace not seen in decades.

It is unclear why this particular attack drew the ire of Israeli authorities, when UN human rights officials say there have been at least 1,250 attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank since October that have not drawn similar responses. But by failing to stop the attacks and allowing settlers to carry out hundreds of attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank with impunity, Israeli authorities are de facto supporting such attacks, human rights groups and activists say.

“This terrorism is part of the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. It is sponsored by the government, led by cabinet ministers and protected by the Israeli occupation forces. It must be condemned and called what it is: state-sponsored terrorism,” said Laith Arafeh, Palestinian ambassador to Germany.

A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the unrest was not an isolated attack but occurred because Israeli officials were getting away with impunity for their attacks in the West Bank.

The death toll in the West Bank has skyrocketed since October, when Israel began its current genocidal assault on Gaza. The UN reports that Israeli forces and settlers have killed over 600 Palestinians in the West Bank since October, including at least 140 children. This is a record number of deaths in the West Bank during this period. Even before October 7, last year was the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank.