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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Palestinians: West Bank ambulance driver killed trying to reach injured in settler raid |
| 2024-04-21 |
| [IsraelTimes] Unconfirmed reports claim clashes started when residents of nearby settlement threw rocks at Palestinian villagers near Nablus; unclear whether fire came from troops or settlers An ambulance driver was killed in the West Bank on Saturday on his way to evacuate people maimed during an alleged Hebrew media reported that a group of settlers had arrived at the Paleostinian town of As-Sawiya near the settlement of Eli on Saturday afternoon and began throwing stones at Paleostinians who retaliated by doing the same. Shortly after the festivities began, Israel Defense Forces troops arrived and began firing at the rioters. Some reports in Hebrew media said that the 50-year-old ambulance driver was killed by IDF fire, while other said that he was shot by armed settlers. There was no immediate comment on the incident from the military. A resident of As-Sawiya told Haaretz that the army only arrived at the scene after a group of Paleostinian residents chased the settlers away. He said that the soldiers and settlers stood together on a hill some 500 meters from the Paleostinians when the troops opened fire. "Nothing like this has ever happened before where settlers attack [us] and the soldiers help them," the man was quoted as saying. "The police showed up about an hour later, and if an Israeli had been injured, they would have shown up within a second." The PA health ministry said the driver, named as Muhammad Awad, was killed by Israeli gunfire as he was making his way to transport people injured during the attack. A medic who was with the driver when he was shot claimed that he was shot by Israeli soldiers. Settler violence in the West Bank spiked in the last week after the body of 14-year-old Benjamin Achimeir was found last weekend after he had gone missing. Security forces said he had been murdered in a terror attack. Following the discovery of Achimeir’s body, Jewish settlers entered the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, and set houses and cars ablaze. Paleostinian medics said one man was killed and 25 others were maimed in the rampage. Violent incidents continued throughout the week with another two Paleostinians killed in a confrontation with settlers on Monday evening. Paleostinian authorities and the IDF said the two victims had been shot by settlers. Incidents of vandalism against Paleostinians and Israeli security forces are commonly referred to as "price tag" attacks, with perpetrators calling them retaliation for Paleostinian violence or government policies seen as hostile to the settler movement. Arrests of perpetrators are exceedingly rare and rights groups lament that convictions are even more unusual, with the majority of charges in such cases being dropped. The week’s violence culminated in the US announcement of a third round of sanctions against settler individuals including Benzi Gopstein — leader of the murderous Moslem right-wing Lehava group and a close ally of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. Under Gopstein’s leadership, Lehava and its members have been involved in acts or threats of violence against Paleostinians, often targeting sensitive or volatile areas. Two entities, the Mount Hebron Fund and Shlom Asiraich, were also targeted for their roles in establishing fundraising campaigns on behalf of Yinon Levi and David Chai Chasdai, two recently US-designated gunnies who engaged in Settler violence spiked after the October 7 massacre carried out by the Hamas, a regional Iranian catspaw, terror group in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 253 were taken hostage, but violence was already on the rise before then, according to watchdogs. Since October 7, troops have arrested some 3,700 wanted Paleostinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,600 affiliated with Hamas. According to the Paleostinian Authority health ministry, more than 450 West Bank Paleostinians have been killed in that time. In the same period, at least 13 Israelis, among them two members of security forces, have been killed by Paleostinians in the West Bank, according to an Israeli tally. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #2 Armored personnel carrier (APC). This is a messy war. 15 killed approaching hospital in convoy. |
| Posted by: Dale 2024-04-21 08:39 |
| #1 When I was there in Intifada I, they used ambulances as APC. |
| Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2024-04-21 02:46 |