American-Israeli slain in the West Bank as violence grows

In the occupied West Bank, an Israeli-American was shot and died as retaliatory rioting grew worse.

The man was slain during an assault on passing cars on a highway close to Jericho.

After Israeli settlers invaded Palestinian towns in the West Bank on Sunday night, burning hundreds of cars and homes, the shooting took place.

Following the Sunday shooting deaths of two settlers from an adjacent community by a Palestinian, that attack occurred.

“What transpired was terrible and brutal,” said Hawara.
Paramedics transported the Israeli-American victim of the shooting near Jericho to a Jerusalem hospital, but he was subsequently declared dead.

Tom Nides, the US ambassador, tweeted: “Sadly, I can confirm that one of tonight’s terrorist strikes in the West Bank resulted in the death of a US citizen. For his family, I pray.”

Attackers reportedly opened fire on Israeli cars three times before setting their own vehicles on fire, according to the Israeli Defense Forces.

The assailants engaged in a firefight with police before running away, the IDF tweeted.

No Palestinian organizations immediately took responsibility for the incident.

Hamas, an Islamist organization that dominates the Gaza Strip but is less well-known in the West Bank, said that the attack was a normal reaction to Israeli attacks.

According to a spokeswoman, “the atrocities committed by the occupation and the herds of settlers will not be faced with anything less than stabbing, shooting, and car ramming.”

Following a session in Jordan, where Israeli and Palestinian officials promised to defuse tensions, violence broke out.

A huge group of Israeli settlers entered the village of Hawara, some 4 miles (6 km) south of Nablus, in videos that were published hours after the summit finished on Sunday. They lit fires and threw stones as they entered the community.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Sameh Aqtash, 37, passed away on Sunday night after being shot in the stomach by settlers during an incident in Zaatara.

Israeli authority over this region of the West Bank is total, and Palestinians have criticized Israeli security personnel for failing to protect them.

According to Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, “the terrorist acts carried out by Israeli settlers, under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces,” are entirely the responsibility of the Israeli government.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, pleaded for peace and encouraged settlers to refrain from violence so that the Israeli military and security agencies could concentrate on apprehending the shooter who killed the two Israelis.

In a video statement, he pleaded with people not to use the law when the situation was tense and the blood was boiling.

Settlers organized a march to Hawara to “seek retribution” for the murderous attack on Hillel and Yagel Yaniv, who lived in the settlement of Har Bracha, which lies 1.2 miles south of Nablus.

When a Palestinian guy rammed the brothers’ car and subsequently opened fire on them both many times, they were traveling through Hawara.

Although no Palestinian terrorist group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, the shooter was apparently sporting a shirt bearing the logo of the Lions’ Den, a Nablus-based organization.

Last Wednesday, members of the gang were the target of an Israeli raid in Nablus that claimed the lives of 11 Palestinians, including a number of civilians. This operation has been the deadliest in the West Bank since 2005.

In an effort to stop the recent wave of violent attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, Israeli police have been conducting waves of search, arrest, and intelligence collecting operations in Nablus and the adjoining city of Jenin.

Over 60 Palestinians, including militants and civilians, have been killed by Israeli forces since the year’s beginning. On the Israeli side, 14 people—all civilians with the exception of a paramilitary police officer—have been murdered in attacks.

140 settlements established since Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the Middle East War in 1967 are home to more than 600,000 Jews.

Although Israel disputes this, the majority of the international world views the settlements as being against international law.