A horde of extremist Jewish settlers at dawn Sunday attacked under military protection Palestinian neighborhoods and homes in different areas of the Old City of al-Khalil.
Local sources told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that settlers organized an anti-Arab march from Kiryat Arba settlement to the Old City at around 01:40 am adding that a notorious settler known as Ofer who already committed several crimes against the natives in al-Khalil was leading the rally.
According to the sources the settlers marched to Jaber neighborhood and then to Wadi al-Hasseen and al-Mahawel areas and toured their streets while chanting racist slurs against the Arabs.
Israeli soldiers were also seen escorting the settlers who throw stones and empty bottles at homes and tried to set fire to some of them as well as to some closed stores.
One citizen from the family of al-Jabari was slightly injured during the stone-throwing attacks on homes.
“At night no one was able to sleep because the settlers attacked several neighborhoods in the Old City… they hurled stones and empty bottles at every house they passed by while chanting slogans against the Palestinians” local activist Abu Imad Jaber told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC).
“They terrified women and children while the Israeli army was escorting them to provide them with protection” Jaber added.
“We contacted the Palestinian military liaison office and the international forces present in al-Khalil as well as the Red Cross but no one came to the place. Children and women screamed in fear and panic inside their homes whose windows and doors sustained damage in full view of the Israeli army forces” he said.
Later local Palestinian young men had to retaliate and defend the families. They embarked on attacking the settlers with stones and Molotov cocktails and closed nearby roads in Palestinian neighborhoods near Kiryat Arba.
After that the settlers and soldiers were forced to escape especially after they heard young men and mosques at dawn raising their voices in hymns glorifying God (Allahu Akbar).
This was the second time in 24 hours such attacks by settlers took place in al-Khalil especially in Jaber neighborhood. Three Palestinians and one settler were injured during the events at the time.
In a separate incident a large number of Israeli troops stormed at dawn today several areas of Yatta town south of al-Khalil raided many homes confiscated two cars and handed four ex-detainees summonses for interrogation from the Shin Bet in Etzion settlement.
In Nablus six military vehicles boarded by soldiers and officers reportedly entered Sebastia town after midnight on Sunday and headed for the archaeological area where they stayed there for about an hour before withdrawing.
Earlier on Saturday night an Israeli military force imposed movement restrictions at Beit Furik checkpoint east of Nablus and checked the IDs of Palestinian citizens before allowing them to pass through.
