An Israeli settler was filmed this week shooting in the direction of Palestinians in the West Bank with an IDF-issued assault rifle belonging to a soldier, a video released by human rights group B’Tselem shows.
The incident, which occurred on July 26 near the village of al-Tuwanai, is the latest in a series involving settlers and Palestinians near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
In the video released by the left-wing NGO, the settler arrived at the scene in a military jeep before he fired into the air in the direction of the Palestinians with the IDF weapon.
The soldier later drives away and the settler returned without a shirt and the soldier’s weapon, and is seen picking up large rocks to throw at them before he is separated by IDF troops who order him to leave the area.
The Palestinian who filmed the incident is heard telling IDF troops that the person running away was the settler who had fired towards them.
A resident of the village was quoted by Haaretz as saying that “the soldier gave him his M-16 rifle and stood with the army jeep really close to him, five to 10 m. from there.”
Another Palestinian eyewitness who was on the roof of his home with 10 children, told Haaretz that “all of us shook, he didn’t fire in the air, he shot towards us.”
Groups of masked settlers were later filmed in the distance destroying trees and throwing stones.
A soldier was filmed calling for backup and is heard saying “tell them we can’t, three of us against all of them.”
According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, “a violent incident developed between settlers and Palestinians” near the Maon Farm in the South Hebron hills where both sides threw stones and Palestinians shot fireworks towards settlers.
“An IDF soldier picked up a settler in the military vehicle who wanted to direct us, and when they arrived, stones were thrown at the vehicle. In response, the settler took the weapon from the soldier and fired it into the air. There were no casualties,” the IDF said. “In light of the severity of the incident, the soldier was summoned for an immediate investigation and clarification by the brigade commander, and the regulations were clarified.”
B’Tselem has reported a rise in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank in recent months and has accused the IDF of turning a blind eye.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in 2020 there were “771 incidents of settler violence causing injury to 133 Palestinians and damaging 9,646 trees and 184 vehicles, mostly in the areas of Hebron, Jerusalem, Nablus and Ramallah.”
The area around Hebron has been a hotbed of violence during the wave of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks that broke out in 2015. And while the number of deadly attacks has decreased, the overall amount of attacks and attempted attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops has remained high.