A Palestinian man was shot dead and several others wounded after hundreds of Israeli settlers rampaged through the occupied West Bank town of Turmusaya, torching homes and cars. Residents told the BBC they feared for their lives during the attack, which they said lasted 45 minutes before Israeli forces arrived.
The rampage was an apparent reprisal for the killing of four Israeli settlers by Palestinian gunmen at a petrol station on Tuesday. The Israeli military condemned the settler attacks but did not respond to questions about the speed of its response. The Palestinian health ministry identified the dead man as Omar Qateen, 27, saying he was shot by Israeli forces 'while confronting the settlers'.
Footage from Turmusaya showed cars ablaze and thick black smoke swirling above the town. Mayor Lafi Adeeb said about 400 settlers rampaged through, torching homes and cars, and that five residents were hit with live ammunition. One resident, Sam Abdullah, told the BBC his daughter-in-law, a US citizen visiting from America, was inside the family home when settlers aimed a gun at her and tried to set the house on fire. Her US passport was destroyed when her rental car was torched.
Another resident said her children were hiding in the basement as settlers threw Molotov cocktails at the house. 'Thank God the youth rushed to help… Thank God my children are safe,' she said. The Israeli military said security forces entered the town to extinguish fires, prevent clashes and collect evidence, and that an investigation had been opened.
The attacks followed a night of settler violence elsewhere in the West Bank, where residents said Israeli soldiers and police stood by as settlers burned a petrol station, orchards, a cement factory and dozens of cars. Fears are mounting of further violence after an Israeli military raid in Jenin on Monday killed seven Palestinians, including two 15-year-olds, and a subsequent attack by Hamas gunmen on Tuesday.
