Video obtained by AP shows settler assault on small Palestinian village with rare clarity

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Palestinian Qusai Al-Amur sits in a hospital bed next to his relatives following an attack by Israeli settlers on his West Bank village of Jinba, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 29 March 2025
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Video obtained by AP shows settler assault on small Palestinian village with rare clarity

  • A number of settlers pile out of them and run out of the frame, and the screams of Palestinian women can be heard
  • Palestinians and rights groups say Israeli forces usually turn a blind eye or intervene on behalf of the settlers

JERUSALEM: Over a dozen Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian village in the southern Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, beating residents with sticks and rocks, in an incident captured with rare clarity by security cameras. The video obtained by AP and testimonies from Palestinian witnesses appeared to conflict with the account of the attack provided by Israeli police and military, who arrested over 20 Palestinians afterwards.
The violence in the village of Jinba follows a settler attack earlier this week in a nearby village in which Hamdan Ballal, a Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” was left bloodied and bruised before being detained by Israeli soldiers for about 20 hours.

The videos provide uncommonly stark images of the type of settler assault Palestinians in the West Bank say now occurs frequently. They say radical Jewish settlers rarely, if ever, face repercussions for attacking Palestinian communities, while Palestinians are often rounded up in droves and detained by Israeli forces.
Settlers descend on Jinba
AP obtained footage from two security cameras belonging to the Al-Amur family, whose home came under attack. Footage from one camera shows a jeep, an ATV and a white pick-up truck speed up to the edge of the village.
A number of settlers pile out of them and run out of the frame, and the screams of Palestinian women can be heard. The settlers then return into view, and at least 15 of them ascend a slope, getting closer to the camera.
Many are masked, at least three are carrying bats or sticks, and one is armed with an assault rifle. One can be seen throwing a rock, then bending to collect more.
The matriarch of the Al-Amur family, Oula Awad, said she saw the settlers approaching her house between 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM, as she was doing laundry outside with her daughter. Her son, Qusai, 17, and husband, Aziz, 63, were washing up to prepare for Ramadan prayers when the settlers pulled up in vehicles and emerged.
“The settler runs toward me and told me, ‘Don’t wave. Do not move forward. We will hit you,’” she said.
In security footage taken from a different camera at the house, she and her daughter, 16-year-old Handa, are seen screaming and waving clothes in the air, calling for help. At one point, Awad makes a motion waving her arms. It is not clear if she throws something at a settler rushing toward her.
The settlers are then seen converging on Qusai. One settler begins hitting him with a stick as he tries to run away. Another settler smashes his head with a rock, sending him to the ground. Four settlers then kick and beat him before running away.
Awad said the settlers locked her and her daughter in a side room as they beat her younger son, Ahmad, and her husband Aziz.
“They entered the room and hit the windows,” said Awad. They tried to burn the furniture. “My husband was standing on the stairs, and they started beating him.”
A video taken by Qusai and shared with the AP showed Ahmad on the ground with a head laceration. Aziz lies nearby, his face bloodied.
Five Palestinians remain in hospitals. Aziz had a chest injury and underwent surgery for skull fractures; Ahmed, 16, is in intensive care. Qusai suffered a broken arm, bruises and cuts. Another villager, Maher Mohammed, had cuts and bruises, as did his son Osama, who was also undergoing kidney examinations.
Nidal Younis, the head of the Masafer Yatta village council, witnessed part of the attack and was detained by police for two hours afterward. He said soldiers who arrived on scene following the attack prevented Palestinians from nearby villages from helping and threw stun grenades at homes, a claim to which the military did not respond.
Police and military provide a conflicting account

 

Following the incident, Israeli police said they detained 22 Palestinians from the village on suspicion of stone throwing and brought them in for further investigation.
They said Palestinians had attacked two settler shepherds nearby, minorly injuring them.
“The security forces view the series of attacks in the area seriously, and will take strong action to bring those involved to justice,” the police said. They did not respond when asked by the AP why no Israeli civilians were arrested.
The military gave a somewhat different account, saying an Israeli civilian had been attacked and injured by militants near an Israeli settlement.
Then, it said “a violent confrontation developed between a number of Israeli civilians and Palestinians,” injuring another Israeli civilian.
Masafer Yatta was designated by the Israeli military as a live-fire training zone in the 1980s, and the military has ordered the expulsion of the residents, mostly Arab Bedouin. Around 1,000 residents have largely remained in place, but soldiers regularly come in to demolish homes, tents, water tanks and olive orchards.
Palestinians and rights groups say Israeli forces usually turn a blind eye or intervene on behalf of the settlers.
The war in Gaza has sparked a surge of violence in the West Bank, with the Israeli military carrying out widescale military operations that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. There has been a rise in settler violence as well as Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

 


Israeli airstrike kills Palestinian journalist and family in Khan Yunis, Gaza

Updated 35 min 10 sec ago
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Israeli airstrike kills Palestinian journalist and family in Khan Yunis, Gaza

  • Mohammed Saleh Al-Bardawil was a presenter at Al-Aqsa radio station
  • He is the third Palestinian journalist to be killed since Israel resumed its assault on Gaza in mid-March

LONDON: A Palestinian journalist and his entire family were killed early on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike west of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Mohammed Saleh Al-Bardawil, a presenter at Al-Aqsa radio station, was killed with his wife and three children in their apartment in the Emirati neighborhood of Khan Yunis.

On Tuesday, an Israeli military drone struck the Al-Bardawil apartment, according to a report from the Wafa news agency.

He is the third Palestinian journalist to be killed since Israel resumed its attacks on various areas of the Gaza Strip on March 18. The Palestinian Information Center has reported the killing of at least 209 journalists in Gaza since October 2023.

Israel’s renewed attacks on Gaza in March killed at least 1,001 Palestinians and injured 2,359 others, the majority of whom are children and women. The overall death toll in Gaza has reached 50,399 since the Israeli war began on Oct. 7, 2023.


Iraq’s PM, Syria’s president stress ‘new chapter’ in countries’ relationship

Updated 01 April 2025
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Iraq’s PM, Syria’s president stress ‘new chapter’ in countries’ relationship

  • Iraq welcomed formation of Syria’s transitional government this week
  • Discussions focus on enhancing border security, cooperation against drug smuggling

LONDON: President of the Syrian Arab Republic Ahmad Al-Sharaa stressed the significance of starting a new chapter in his country’s relationship with Iraq during a phone conversation with its Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani.

The two leaders spoke on Tuesday, the final day of Eid Al-Fitr, which marked the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. The parties discussed enhancing bilateral relations between Syria and Iraq while maintaining economic ties, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

Al-Sharaa and Al-Sudani stressed the need to begin a new chapter in their countries’ relationship, focusing in the future on collaborative efforts to address regional challenges and prevent tensions, the SANA added.

Discussions also focused on enhancing border security, cooperation against drug smuggling, and coordination to maintain stability.

Iraq welcomed the formation of Syria’s transitional government this week, reiterating its commitment to its neighbor’s security and sovereignty. Al-Sharaa emphasized his respect for Iraq’s sovereignty, pledging non-interference in its domestic affairs, the SANA said.


Amnesty International calls on Hungary to arrest Netanyahu

Updated 01 April 2025
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Amnesty International calls on Hungary to arrest Netanyahu

  • Israeli PM due to fly to International Criminal Court member state this week
  • Visit ‘must not become a bellwether for the future of human rights in Europe’

LONDON: Amnesty International has called on Hungary to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following reports that he will visit the EU member state on Wednesday at the invitation of his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban.

Netanyahu is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in November over Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

Orban, a close ally of Netanyahu, has said he would not enforce the warrant. As a member state, Hungary is required to enforce any arrest warrant issued by the ICC.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, head of global research, advocacy and policy at Amnesty International, said Netanyahu “is an alleged war criminal, who is accused of using starvation as a method of warfare, intentionally attacking civilians and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”

As an ICC member, “Hungary must arrest him if he travels to the country and hand him over to the Court. Any trip he takes to an ICC member state that does not end in his arrest would embolden Israel to commit further crimes against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“Netanyahu’s reported visit should be seen as a cynical effort to undermine the ICC and its work, and is an insult to the victims of these crimes who are looking to the Court for justice. Hungary’s invitation shows contempt for international law and confirms that alleged war criminals wanted by the ICC are welcome on the streets of an EU member state.”

Guevara-Rosas said: “Netanyahu’s visit to Hungary must not become a bellwether for the future of human rights in Europe.

“European and global leaders must end their shameful silence and inaction, and call on Hungary to arrest Netanyahu during a visit which would make a mockery of the suffering of Palestinian victims of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, its war crimes in other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and its entrenched system of apartheid against all Palestinians whose rights it controls.

“Amnesty International calls on the ICC Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute all Israel’s crimes.”

Guevara-Rosas added: “Hungary should equally do so by applying universal jurisdiction principles. Powerful leaders, like Netanyahu, accused by the ICC of war crimes and crimes against humanity, must no longer enjoy the prospect of perpetual impunity.”


Health ministry in Gaza says 1,042 killed since Israel resumed strikes

Updated 01 April 2025
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Health ministry in Gaza says 1,042 killed since Israel resumed strikes

  • After a ceasefire that lasted roughly two months, Israel relaunched its military campaign in Gaza on March 18

GAZA CITY: The health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday that 1,042 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since Israel resumed large-scale strikes on March 18.
According to the ministry’s statement, the figure includes 41 people killed in the past 24 hours. It also reported that the overall death toll had reached 50,399 since the war began on October 7, 2023.
After a ceasefire that lasted roughly two months, Israel relaunched its military campaign in Gaza on March 18. Since then, bombardment and new ground assaults that have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry’s count does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says over half those killed are women and children.


Israeli defense firm Elbit gets $130 million European rocket supply deal

Updated 01 April 2025
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Israeli defense firm Elbit gets $130 million European rocket supply deal

  • Pro-Palestine activists have repeatedly targeted Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems in the UK
  • They accuse the company of supplying weapons used in Israel’s military actions in Gaza and the West Bank

JERUSALEM: Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest defense firm, said on Tuesday it received a $130 million contract to supply advanced rocket munitions to an unnamed European country.
The contract for the Precize and Universal Launching System (PULS), an advanced and versatile artillery rocket system capable of launching a wide range of ammunition types from a single platform, will be performed over three years.
The system, Elbit said, offers precision strike capabilities with a range of up to 300 kilometers.
“As European nations continue to enhance their defense capabilities, the selection of PULS reaffirms its strategic value in modern battlefield scenarios,” said Yehuda Vered, general manager of Elbit Systems Land.
Under the deal, Elbit will supply a variety of advanced rocket systems that are designed to significantly enhance the operational capabilities of the customer’s defense forces.

Pro-Palestine activists have repeatedly targeted Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems in the UK, accusing it of supplying weapons used in Israel’s military actions in Gaza and the West Bank.

The activist group Palestine Action has led these protests, often involving vandalism and direct action against Elbit’s sites. They argue that Elbit profits from war crimes and demand its closure.