32 Israeli settlers killed in Palestinian retaliatory attacks since January
At least 32 Israeli settlers have reportedly been killed since the beginning of the current year as a result of Palestinian retaliatory attacks in the West Bank and the 1948 occupied territories, amid a sharp uptick in deadly Israeli military raids and rampages by extremist settlers on Palestinians.
According to a report published by the Israeli free-to-air and Hebrew-language Keshet 12 television channel, 21 Israelis lost their lives in shooting operations, while another four were killed in car-ramming attacks.
A settler was killed in a stabbing assault, and one person was killed when a rocket fired from the besieged Gaza Strip landed in the Israeli-occupied territories.
The report noted that the number of Israeli deaths in Palestinian retaliatory operations marks a fresh record.
On Saturday, two Israeli men were shot dead in a retaliatory operation by a Palestinian gunman south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
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Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service said a 60-year-old man and his 29-year-old son were shot in the Palestinian town of Huwara. Paramedics said the two people were targeted inside a carwash.
The Israeli military said it had launched a manhunt for the assailant and closed off a number of roads in the area.
The Palestinian man is believed by the Israeli army to have approached the carwash on foot and opened fire at the two Israeli men with a handgun, according to a preliminary investigation. It was unclear how the assailant fled.
Israeli forces launch raids on various cities of the West Bank on an almost daily basis under the pretext of detaining what it calls “wanted” Palestinians. The raids usually lead to violent confrontations with residents.
More than 200 Palestinians have been killed this year in the occupied Palestinian territories and Gaza. The majority of these fatalities have been recorded in the West Bank.
