Jit, West Bank
CNN
—
As Moaya Ali saw a wave of Israeli settlers streaming toward her home in Zit in the West Bank, she grabbed her five children and ran to her car, dropping them off at a nearby house for safety.
Ali said he returned home to see about 30 settlers – armed, masked and dressed in black – jumping over the fence, smashing windows and throwing Molotov cocktails into the house.
CNN visited Ali’s home and found that much of the first floor had been destroyed. Few chairs or sofas remained, the house was completely hollowed out by flames and blackened with soot. The smell of smoke filled the air.
“We are with (Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir) Ben Gvir, we have come to kill you, to kill Arabs,” Ali said, according to the settlers, who shouted in Arab and Hebrew: “We are with Ben Gvir, we are with (Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir), we have come to kill you, to kill Arabs.”
“They told us to go to Sinai, to Jordan, to Syria,” Ali told CNN, referring to Thursday’s attack. “(They) said we will come back and kill you.”
CNN has reached out to Ben Gvir’s office for comment.
Ali’s house was one of several damaged in an attack by what residents of Zit said were dozens of settlers on Thursday night, drawing harsh condemnation from Israeli government officials.
Residents told CNN that armed settlers stormed into the village from three directions at around 7pm local time, firing bullets and tear gas and setting houses and cars on fire.
Another resident, Mohamed Alman, was injured when he tried to confront the settlers. He told CNN that one of the settlers threw a stone at Alman’s face, cutting his lip. The corner of his mouth was swollen and bandaged. The attackers also set his car on fire, he said.
Security camera footage obtained by CNN shows Armand being confronted by at least five settlers, all dressed in black, who are then seen chasing him as he tries to drive them away.
“They had their weapons ready,” Armand said, adding that they had guns with silencers loaded with live ammunition, knives and M16 rifles. “They came to commit crimes in the town,” he said.
The attack was condemned by Israeli officials, and hours later Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement warning that “those responsible for any crimes will be arrested and brought to justice.”
One resident, Rashid Seda, was killed in Thursday’s attack. The 23-year-old died from “a wound in the chest caused by a settler’s bullet,” the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry said.
Hundreds of people gathered for the burial on Friday, with residents carrying Seda’s body, wrapped in a Palestinian flag, in a procession through the town’s narrow streets.
Mourners blamed far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Ben Gvir for the attack, saying they have been inciting settler violence, particularly since Oct. 7.
“Netanyahu is nothing more than a plaything in their hands,” said a preacher at Seda’s funeral.
In May, Smotrich said Israel should approve 10,000 settlements in the West Bank, establish new settlements in every country that recognizes a Palestinian state, and revoke travel permits for Palestinian Authority officials. In June, he said the way to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger the state of Israel was to develop Jewish settlements.
Netanyahu has long struggled to appease the far-right wing of his coalition government and is now under pressure to delay a ceasefire and continue the war in Gaza, which shows little sign of ending today.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded at least 1,143 attacks by settlers against Palestinians between October 7 and August 5 alone. At least 114 of those attacks “resulted in the deaths or injuries of Palestinians,” according to OCHA.
After Thursday’s attack, some settler leaders sought to distance themselves from the attackers. Smotrich, who lives in the Kedumim settlement, just 10 minutes away, called the attackers “criminals” and said they “have nothing to do with the settlements or the settlers.”
In a statement, Ben Gvir suggested that the riots would not have happened if Israeli forces had been allowed to shoot stone-throwers in the West Bank. “Tonight I informed the IDF chief of staff that not authorizing soldiers to shoot dead terrorists who throw stones is what has led to incidents like those that took place tonight,” Ben Gvir said.
“At the same time, they are expressly prohibited from enforcing the law themselves,” he added.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also condemned the attack, saying in a statement that Israeli security forces were dispatched to Zit “minutes after receiving reports of the incident” and “used riot control tactics, firing in the air and clearing Israeli civilians from the town.”
It was also reported that Israeli civilians involved in the riots have been arrested for questioning, and a joint investigation by Israeli security forces is looking into the deaths of Palestinian civilians.
But statements from Israeli authorities did little to calm residents’ anger.
Murad Eshtewi, a spokesman for Fatah in Qalqilya governorate, where Zit is located, said settler attacks have always been condoned by settler leaders. Fatah is the main party in the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs the West Bank.
“I cannot believe the contradiction Prime Minister Netanyahu is now facing. This sends a message to settlers that it is OK to attack the residents of Zit,” he told CNN, adding that it shows Netanyahu is not serious about stopping the war.
Eshtewi said the prime minister had the support of his far-right ministers while blood was being shed in Gaza and the West Bank.
Residents of Zit said settler attacks have been frequent since Netanyahu’s new government took power, and even more so since Oct. 7, but Thursday’s attack was unprecedented.
They fear this may not be the last.
“What happened yesterday wasn’t the first and it won’t be the last,” Jit resident and city council member Jamal Yamin told CNN, “but it was the most brutal.”
Yamin said it was up to the international community to stop the violence because Palestinians have no means to counter such attacks.
“The world sees and hears what’s going on, but does nothing,” he said.
