On Saturday evening, 25 March 2023, Palestinians fired from a passing car at Israeli soldiers in an IDF post in the town of Huwarah, injuring two of them, one seriously and one moderately. Two days later, in the early hours of Monday evening, 27 March 2023, dozens of soldiers and settlers came to the town center. Some of the settlers were masked and armed with handguns, M16 rifles and clubs. For over an hour, the soldiers allowed settlers to attack passersby and car passengers with stones, damage property in stores and restaurants and attack about five houses with stones. The settlers pepper-sprayed residents, injuring five, who were treated at the town’s Ibn Sina Medical Center.  

The settlers attacked passengers in cars driving by on the road, set fire to a truck and a car that were parked in the area and vandalized 11 more parked cars. In addition, a settler was recorded by a security camera at a gas station trying to set fire to a gasoline pump. The settlers attacked car passengers with stones, one of which shattered a shuttle driver’s window and injured his head. The man was taken to the Rafidya Hospital in Nablus in an ambulance. Soldiers fired live rounds and tear gas canisters at homes in the area and at residents who came out of their homes to defend their property. About 10 residents were injured by smoke inhalation and tear gas and were brought to a local medical clinic. 

At around 5:30 P.M., while Islam Ahmad approached the junction at the entrance to the settlement of Yitzhar on his way from Nablus to his home in the village of a-Sawiyah, settlers escorted by soldiers attacked his car and shattered the driver-side window. Ahmad continued driving to Huwarah, where he stopped, exited his car and sought to find shelter in a restaurant, but soldiers pounced on him and knocked him to the ground. The soldiers detained Ahmad there for half an hour and then handcuffed him, blindfolded him, put him in a jeep and brought him to a military base. After about two hours, the soldiers brought him back to the town and released him without further action. 

At around 6:30 P.M., soldiers were caught on camera bringing eight young men, residents of the town, to a local gas station, in handcuffs. The soldiers held the young men at gunpoint, forced them to sit with their heads down and conducted body searches. After about half an hour, at around 7:00 P.M., they were also released without further action.  

In a testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb’i on 1 April 2023, Islam Ahmad, 26, said: 

On Monday, 27 March 2023, at around 5:30 P.M., I was in my car on the way home to a-Sawiyah from an-Najah University in Nablus. When I got close to Yitzhar Junction, I saw about 20 settlers and more than 20 soldiers. All of a sudden, four or five settlers came to my car and started banging on it. I tried to turn around, but a masked settler came to my window and shattered it with some sort of object that I couldn’t see. The glass shards flew on me, and the settler tried to beat me with the object he was holding. There was another car behind me, which I think was the settlers’, so I wasn’t able to back up. I drove forward in between the settlers while they were throwing stones at me. I was able to get between 15 and 20 meters away, and I suddenly heard gunshots. At first, I thought that they fired in the air, but then I saw that a bullet had penetrated the car.  

I drove away, and when I crossed through Huwarah, I saw a couple of settlers throwing stones at houses in the area next to the Shawarma Shams restaurant in the center of town and vandalizing stores. I saw that the restaurant was open, so I pulled over and got out of the car because I wanted to go inside and hide there, but all of a sudden, four or five soldiers appeared in front of me, and I didn’t understand what they wanted from me because they were speaking in Hebrew. Suddenly, two of them knocked me to the ground, pointed their weapons at me and yelled at me. They started searching me, and then their commander came and asked me if I was injured. Before I was able to answer, some of the soldiers led me to the restaurant and sat me on the steps at its entrance. 

At the same time, settlers broke everything they could get their hands on right in front of the soldiers’ eyes and walked around the street with flaming torches. It looked like they were going to burn something. 

The soldiers stood around me for about half an hour and then blindfolded me, handcuffed me from the front with zip ties and put me in a jeep. I had no idea what was happening, and the jeep started moving. I was afraid that the settlers would light my car on fire. After a short drive, I saw from under the blindfold that we’d arrived at a military base. I asked them to call my parents in English, and they told me that I would call them at the police station. We stayed inside the jeep for about an hour, and then it started up again, and we went back to the area of the restaurant. I thought they would release me there, but they did another round in the jeep for about half an hour and only then went back to my car, where they let me go. 

My two brothers were waiting for me next to my car. They told me that they went looking for me because I wasn’t available on the phone, which the soldiers had taken out of my pocket and shut off. They came to look for me in Huwarah and found my car with broken windows and signs of gunfire on it. They thought I was injured, but the restaurant owners told them that the soldiers had arrested me. There were people from the Israeli DCO there, and I told them what happened. They took pictures of all the damage to the car: the front windshield, both of the windows on the left and a taillight were shattered, and there were holes from a bullet that penetrated the back of the car and went through one of the seats. They suggested I file a complaint with the Ari’el Police, but I haven’t gone yet because they won’t do anything anyway. Afterward, my brothers took me home and also brought my car back. We got back at around 10:00 P.M.  

I haven’t fixed the car yet because it’s very expensive and the insurance doesn’t cover damage caused by soldiers and settlers. In the meantime, I covered it in plastic to prevent rain from getting inside.  

 

Yusef Dmeidi (42), a father of a four-year-old girl and resident of Huwarah, lives next to the gas station where soldiers detained a few young men. In a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb’i on 1 April 2023, he said: 

On Monday, 27 March 2023, at around 6:00 P.M., when my wife Iman (34), our daughter Hala (4), and I were waiting for the call of the muezzin to start the Iftar meal, we suddenly heard noises outside. I looked out the window and saw between 30 and 50 settlers running toward the al-Huwari gas station next to our building. I saw a young guy get out of a red car and run away with a couple of settlers running after him. I wanted to go out to help him, but then I saw that he managed to flee to one of the buildings in the area. Afterward, I saw a few settlers holding clubs, using rocks to shatter the windshields of the car parked at the gas station. One of the settlers tried to set it on fire but didn’t succeed. The settlers continued to vandalize the car until a couple of youths threw stones at them, and then they left and moved closer to our building. Iman picked Hala up, and all of a sudden, the settlers threw stones at our house. Two of them shattered the kitchen window and got inside.  

At the same time, there were between 80 and 100 soldiers on the street who stood next to their jeeps and did nothing, even when the settlers threw stones at our building. The soldiers just watched and didn’t prevent the settlers from continuing. I threw the stones back at the settlers to get them away and protect my family, and then the soldiers fired a few live rounds in the air and some stun grenades at the house. One soldier yelled at me to go back inside. I asked him where I should go and said that I was already inside my house and that I had a young daughter. I picked Hala up and showed her to him. The soldier told me to go inside again.   

I saw two armed settlers who looked familiar to me through the window. One of them yelled at me in Hebrew to go inside, and both of them swore at me. The soldiers joined the settlers, and they also yelled at me to go inside. I told the soldiers that instead of yelling at me to go inside, they needed to remove the settlers.  

I saw a few soldiers taking one of our neighbors out of his house and leading him and around eight other young guys to the gas station. They were all handcuffed. The fast was almost over, so I left my house with a bottle of water to give to them to drink, but one of the soldiers yelled at me and swore at me, and I was forced to go back home.   

I heard the soldiers asking the young guys why they threw rocks at them and the settlers. The youths told them that it was for self-defense.  

The soldiers let the settlers do whatever they wanted and fired tear gas canisters at houses and locals who tried to remove the settlers with stones. Things quieted down only when the soldiers removed the settlers from the area, and then they released everyone they had detained.  

Since the attack, Hala has been scared, and every time she hears the word “soldier” or “settler,” she gets stressed. We try to reassure her as much as possible. 

 

In a testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb’i on 12 April 2023, Ihab Abu Raidah (35), a father of two from the village of Qusrah, Nablus District, who was chased by settlers threatening to hurt him, and whose car was destroyed by settlers, said: 

On Monday, 27 March 2023, at around 6:00 P.M., I was driving home from work on Route 60. I crossed Yitzhar Junction and continued south. Next to the al-Huwari gas station, I saw 10 to 15 settlers throwing stones at houses and stores and swearing at residents. There were a few soldiers next to them, but they didn’t do anything to them. 

I didn’t know what to do. I was scared to drive past them. I drove into the gas station and parked my car there. I started walking toward one of the houses to find shelter, and then three or four settlers ran in my direction. One of them was masked and had a stone in his hand, and another one was holding a rifle. I fled, running, on the side of the road toward Nablus, and they continued chasing me. I heard gunshots, but I didn’t know where they were coming from. I got to a house in the area and tried to go inside, but the door was locked. The settlers were still after me, so I kept running away. While I was running, my phone fell out of my pocket, and I was afraid to stop to pick it up. I kept running until I reached another house, but it was also locked. I looked back and saw that the settlers weren’t there anymore, so I went back to get my phone and went back again to the first house. This time they let me in, and I stayed there until 8:30 P.M.  

The whole time, I was afraid that the settlers had burned my car. When I got back to the gas station, I found it completely destroyed. The settlers shattered all of the windows except for the one on the driver’s side, damaged both doors on the left side and the body of the car in the back. Someone from the Israeli Civil Administration asked me if I was attacked while driving or while the car was parked. I asked him what I was supposed to do now, and he said he didn’t know. A few of the residents there gave me plastic sheets to put over the seats that were covered in shards of glass, and that’s how I drove from there to my parents’ house in Qusrah. 

 

In a testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb’i on 29 March 2023, Shahd Mas’ud (22) from Huwarah, whose home was attacked, said: 

Two days ago, on Monday, 27 March 2023, at around 6:00 P.M., while my mother Rawida (57), my father Nazih (62), my sister Walaa (30) and I were getting ready for the Iftar meal, we suddenly heard banging on our house and the sound of glass shattering. We looked through the window and saw dozens of settlers standing on the street throwing stones at our house. Soldiers stood next to them and did nothing to stop them. The settlers shattered the window that faces the street, and I was afraid they would shatter the display window of our clothing shop on the ground floor and then light everything on fire. 

My parents went to the roof to get a better view of what was happening outside, and I was very scared that they would get injured. In the meantime, my sister and I continued to watch from the window. My dad yelled at the soldiers from the roof and told them to move the settlers away. Then one of them just ordered my father to go inside. A few minutes later, they came inside, and my dad told us that the soldiers came onto our roof by going onto the neighbors’ roof and forced them to go inside.   

In the meantime, the settlers continued attacking our house with stones. They also attacked three other houses in the area, one of which was Yusef Dmeidi’s. I saw smoke rising from a car wash across from our house. We called the Palestinian fire department, but they told us they couldn’t come because the settlers were blocking the roads. In the meantime, a truck parked at the car wash was really on fire until it burnt down completely. After some residents came out of their houses and threw stones at the settlers, we heard live fire and tear gas canisters. All of the stones and tear gas canisters went over the roof of our house, and we really choked from the smell of the gas, but lucky for us, the wind blew the smell away pretty quickly. It felt like the soldiers gave the settlers a certain amount of time to do whatever they wanted without them getting involved, and they only moved them out of the area after an hour.   

After it was all over, I couldn’t do anything and could barely move. I was in shock from what happened. I wasn’t able to eat, so I just drank a little bit of water. It was really scary, the settlers’ attack, and the soldiers, who yelled in Hebrew, and we didn’t understand what they were saying and might have even swore at us. And the gunshots, which we didn’t know in what direction they were shot. We felt like someone might catch a bullet any second. It’s hard for me to forget all of this, and I hope it won’t happen again.