Settlers threw rocks and grenades at a a Palestinian family of harvesters and stole their olives near the Palestinian village of Burin in the West Bank on Friday, according to videos released by human rights organization Yesh Din.
The videos showed settlers throwing stones at the harvesters and stealing olives while another video shows what appeared to be an IDF soldier handing a settler a gas grenade and directing him where to throw it.
The IDF denied that the man in uniform was a soldier.
“The man in uniform is a regional security officer and not an IDF soldier,” said an IDF spokesperson. “The incident and the conduct of the security officer are under investigation.”
According to Yesh Din, its activists alerted the police to the incident, and police officers arrived and confiscated the stolen olives from the settlers.
Yesh Din also reported that two of the Palestinians were injured in the attack and were taken to the hospital for medical attention.
The organization added that after attacking the harvesters, the settlers went to Burin, near Nablus, and proceeded to throw stones at houses, causing thousands of shekels of damage to solar panels that are used to supply electricity to the homes.
The IDF spokesperson reported that armed forces were called to the scene and worked to restore peace to the area.
Zehava Galon condemns the attack
Meretz leader Zehava Galon took to Twitter to condemn the attacks.
"Ben Gvir's military force has begun an organized attack against farmers," she wrote.
הזרוע הצבאית של בן גביר יוצאת במתקפה מאורגנת נגד חקלאים, עומד שם חייל ומסביר להם איך לזרוק רימונים. זה ארגון טרור לכל דבר. עוד 11 ימים הם עלולים להיות בשלטון. הם יבואו עם האבנים והרימונים שלהם לכל בית בישראל שיש בו ערבים, שמאלנים או להטבים. זה 61 עם מרצ - או הם pic.twitter.com/QWecjmCOuE
— זהבה גלאון (@zehavagalon) October 21, 2022
Galon added that this is a terror organization and warned that “in 11 days, they can be in the coalition” and that if that happened, they “will go with stones and grenades to every house in Israel where there are Arabs, left-wing people or LGBTQ+ people.”
A Samaria Regional Council spokesperson charged that Palestinians had thrown stones at Givat Ronen and that those involved in the incident, including the security officer, had acted in self-defense particularly given that it took the army a long time to arrive e at the scene.
Those involved in the incident worked to make sure that Palestinian attackers were not able to get close to the community, the spokesperson said. One Israeli was lightly injured in the hand during the incident and treated at the scene, the spokesperson said.
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.