palestine

• The victim was killed during an automobile attack.
• That attack came after a Palestinian shot dead two settlers.
• Assailants opened fire on Israeli vehicles three times before setting fire to their own vehicles.

As retaliatory violence escalates, an Israeli-American has been shot and murdered in the occupied West Bank.

The victim was killed during an automobile attack on a highway near Jericho.

The shooting occurred after Israeli settlers raided Palestinian towns in the West Bank on Sunday night, resulting in the destruction of hundreds of cars and residences.

That attack came after a Palestinian shot dead two settlers from an adjacent community on Sunday.

The Israeli-American man slain near Jericho was brought to a hospital in Jerusalem by paramedics, but he was subsequently pronounced dead.

US Ambassador Tom Nides tweeted: “Sadly, I can confirm that a US citizen was killed in one of the terror attacks in the West Bank tonight. I pray for his family.”

 

Sadly, I can confirm that a U.S. citizen was killed in one of the terror attacks in the West Bank tonight. I pray for his family.

— Ambassador Tom Nides (@USAmbIsrael) February 27, 2023

 

According to the Israeli Defense Forces, assailants opened fire on Israeli vehicles three times before setting fire to their own vehicles.

The attackers exchanged fire with police before fleeing, according to the IDF.

No Palestinian organizations immediately claimed responsibility.

The Islamic organization Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip but is less visible in the West Bank, claimed responsibility for the strike, saying it was a logical response to Israeli attacks.

“The crimes conducted by the occupation and the herds of settlers will not be met but with stabbing, shooting, and car-ramming,” a spokesman said in a statement.

During a summit in Jordan, Israeli and Palestinian officials promised to de-escalate tensions.

Videos posted hours after the summit finished on Sunday showed a large throng of Israeli settlers setting fires and throwing stones in the town of Hawara, about 4 miles (6 kilometers) south of Nablus.

Sameh Aqtash, 37, died after being shot in the stomach during a settlers’ attack in Zaatara on Sunday night, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

This area of the West Bank is completely under Israeli authority, and Palestinians have been critical of Israeli security personnel for failing to safeguard them.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he held the Israeli government totally responsible for what he called “the terrorist crimes carried out by Israeli settlers, under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces”.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, asked for calm and urged settlers to allow the Israeli military and security agencies to focus on finding the gunman who killed the two Israelis.

“I ask that when blood is boiling and the spirit is hot, don’t take the law into your hands,” he said in a video statement.

Settlers had called for a march to Hawara to “seek revenge” for the murderous attack on Hillel and Yagel Yaniv, who lived in Har Bracha, 1.2 miles south of Nablus.

A Palestinian guy struck the brothers’ car and then shot them both many times as they drove through Hawara.

So far, no Palestinian terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the shooting, but the gunman was reportedly wearing a shirt with the logo of the Nablus-based Lions’ Den.

Members of the group were targeted in an Israeli raid in Nablus last Wednesday, which murdered 11 Palestinians, including several civilians – the worst such operation in the West Bank since 2005.

Israeli soldiers have been conducting waves of search, arrest, and intelligence-gathering operations in Nablus and the adjoining city of Jenin, claiming that they are attempting to halt a string of deadly Palestinian attacks against Israelis.

More than 60 Palestinians, both terrorists, and civilians, have been slain by Israeli forces since the beginning of the year. On the Israeli side, 14 individuals have been murdered in attacks, all of whom were civilians with the exception of a paramilitary police officer.

More than 600,000 Jews live in 140 settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.

Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

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