Palestinians count cost of Israeli reprisals

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank yesterday counted the cost of deadly violence and arson by Israeli settlers targeting a town where two Israeli brothers were killed.

Dozens of Israeli settlers set homes and cars ablaze in the northern town of Huwara overnight, after a day of Israeli-Palestinian talks in neighbouring Jordan aimed at quelling a surge in violence in the Palestinian territory.

More than 350 Palestinians were injured, most suffering from tear gas inhalation, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.

The Palestinian health ministry said Sameh Aqtash, 37, was shot dead during an attack by Israeli forces and settlers on the nearby village of Zaatara.

The violence came hours after two Israeli settlers — brothers Yagel Yaniv, 20, and Hallel Yaniv, 22 — were shot dead Sunday as they drove through Huwara.

Yesterday, an AFP photographer saw damaged homes blackened by fire, long lines of charred cars, burned trees and smashed windows in the town.

“They burned the cars and the houses and destroyed everything,” Huwara resident Diaa Odeh said.

“Whenever we started to push the settlers back, the army was firing tear gas at us,” added the 25-year-old.

Wajeh Odeh, a member of the town’s municipality, said 30 houses were burned and damaged while more than 100 cars were torched.

Abdel Moneim Aqtash said he and his brother were standing outside a blacksmith’s workshop when they were attacked by Israeli settlers.

“They left the area and then came back with the occupation (Israeli) army… The army shot my brother, not the settlers,” he told AFP.

The military told AFP that Aqtash “was not shot by an Israeli soldier”.

Yoav Gallant, defence minister in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new right-wing coalition government, said he expected “difficult days ahead” and had ordered troops to be reinforced.

“With this being said, I call on everyone to restore calm… We cannot allow a situation in which citizens take the law into their (own) hands,” he said.

The Israeli military told AFP no-one had been arrested over the arson or killing of Aqtash.

The search for the gunmen who fired on the two brothers was ongoing.