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‘Aqraba, Nablus District: Israeli settlers destroy about 100 olive trees, attack Palestinians and ambulance arriving to treat them with stones and clubs and torch four Palestinian cars. Soldiers respond by firing tear gas and “rubber” bullets at Palestini

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‘Aqraba, Nablus District: Israeli settlers destroy about 100 olive trees, attack Palestinians and ambulance arriving to treat them with stones and clubs and torch four Palestinian cars. Soldiers respond by firing tear gas and “rubber” bullets at Palestini

On Saturday morning, 28 January 2023, dozens of settlers placed caravans on lands owned by residents of the village of ‘Aqraba. As soldiers present at the scene began removing the caravans, settlers attacked residents who arrived to defend their lands with stones and clubs. The settlers destroyed about 100 olive trees belonging to a resident of Majdal Bani Fadel, torched four Palestinian cars and shattered the windshield of a fifth car.

The soldiers fired tear gas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets at the residents while settlers threw stones at an ambulance that arrived to take residents suffering from tear gas inhalation. The settlers shattered the ambulance’s windshield and two of its side windows. One stone hit paramedic Bashar Mu’amar (39), who was inside the ambulance, in the head. The settlers attacked him with clubs as well, causing injuries in the chest and leg and then left.

Two of the cars the settlers torched. Photo: Salma a-Deb'i, B'Tselem
Two of the cars the settlers torched. Photo: Salma a-Deb'i, B'Tselem
The ambulance after the attack. Photo courtesy of the landowners
The ambulance after the attack. Photo courtesy of the landowners

Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end this regime, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel has acted in a coordinated and deliberate manner to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip, committing genocide against its residents. In light of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the public statements made by Israeli decision-makers, and the international community’s failure to take effective action, there is a serious risk that the Israeli regime will expand the genocide to other areas under its control—first and foremost, the West Bank.
B’Tselem calls on the Israeli public and the international community to use every tool available under international law to bring an immediate end to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.