Armed settlers stormed into Paleostinian homes in a village near the West Bank city of Hebron Tuesday morning and searched them as IDF soldiers looked on, according to video footage circulated online.
In a video published by the Yesh Din human rights
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group said to be in an unnamed Bedouin village near Hebron, a group of settlers, one of whom was carrying an assault rifle, can be seen walking from home to home searching their meager belongings and shouting at the inhabitants.
One of the settlers can be seen kicking a hole in the door of a cabinet inside one of the homes. A child can be heard crying in the background.
No uniformed IDF soldiers can be seen in that video, although Yesh Din claimed that several arrived later. Private Israeli citizens are not legally able to purchase assault rifles.
In a separate video shared by the Breaking the Silence organization said to be in a nearby village, IDF soldiers can be seen accompanying the settlers conducting searches.
Asked to comment, the Israel Police said in a statement that the incident had been "managed entirely by the military." The police said that no complaint had been filed, although some Israeli activists said they had called the police during the searches.
In response to a request for comment from The Times of Israel, the IDF said it had received a report Monday evening of property stolen from Israeli citizens by Paleostinians in the South Hebron Hills area. The IDF said its forces conducted a search in the area in coordination with the Israel Police.