Israeli settlers terrorize Hebron’s Palestinians, with army protection
Hundreds of illegal Israeli settlers, protected by the army, forced their way into the Old City of Hebron. Throwing stones and attacking Palestinian civilians. One Palestinian toddler injured in the head, 12 wounded were evacuated to hospitals as a result of settler aggression.
HEBRON, Saturday, November 23, 2019 (WAFA) — A Palestinian toddler sustained a moderate injury in the head when hardcore Jewish settlers, under Israeli army protection, attacked Palestinians’ homes with stones in the neighborhood of Tel Rumeida in Hebron, south of the West Bank, local sources said.
Hundreds of settlers protected by army forced their way into the Old City of Hebron, attacking Palestinian civilians and storekeepers, shouting profanities at them and throwing stones at homes.
18-month-old toddler Mohammad Hasan Tanina was hit by the rampaging settlers with a rock in his head while inside his family home. He sustained a moderate injury, and was rushed to hospital for medical treatment.
Settlers pelted stones and empty bottles as well as sprayed pepper gas at passersby, local residents and storekeepers, injuring some of them and terrorizing many others, especially children. The Israeli army reportedly did nothing to protect the Palestinian civilians, witnesses said.
Earlier today, the Israeli military closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron to Muslim worshippers as thousands of Jewish settlers converged on the old city, which is under full Israeli military rule, to mark what is known as Sarah holiday.
Tension has been high in the city since yesterday as extremist settlers attacked homes of Palestinian families in the occupied section of the city, injuring several people.
Settlers were also seen yesterday placing stones with Jewish inscriptions on walls and arches in the old town of Hebron in an effort to make believe that the city is historically Jewish.
Some 800 hardcore settlers live in the Israeli-controlled section of Hebron, known as H2, among over 20,000 Palestinians.
Harassment of Palestinians in that area is a daily occurrence, particularly following the departure of the international monitoring team, the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), earlier in February after Israel refused to extend the team’s mandate.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that it treated five people, including a baby, who were wounded in an attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday.
Imad Abu Shamsiyya, a 49-year-old Palestinian photographer and activist from the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in Hebron, said his 18-month-old grandson was injured as a result of a stone thrown at his home’s window. “I heard settlers approaching and locked the house out of fear of them coming in,” he said. “Then I heard the boy scream and saw he was injured in his head.” His grandson was sent to Hebron Hospital in stable condition, Abu Shamsiyya said.
There has been a recent ecalation in settler agression in the area. Palestinian vehicles were set ablaze and hateful graffiti was scrawled in a suspected hate crime in four West Bank Palestinian villages overnight on Thursday.
According to Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, there have been 13 incidents of slashed tires and hateful graffiti in Palestinian villages in the West Bank in October and November.
Earlier this month, 120 olive trees were heavily damaged in the West Bank in three separate incidents. Branches were sawed off the trees in the fields of the Palestinian villages of As-Sawiya, near Nablus, close to the settlement of Rehelim, and near Yasuf, which is in the Salfit area, close to the settlement of Tapuach.
Last month Jewish settlers assaulted Palestinian farmers, wounding three, at an olive grove near the village of Burin in the West Bank, according to witnesses and the Red Crescent. Witnesses said the settlers attacked the farmers while they were harvesting olives, and also damaged the grove.
