(Turmus Ayya) The Israeli army admitted on Friday that it had “failed” to prevent the attacks carried out by several dozen Israeli settlers against a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, during which a Palestinian was killed and property set on fire.
Hundreds of Israelis swept into the village of Turmusayya on Wednesday night, the day after four Israelis were killed in an attack led by two Palestinians. The attack was a response to the deadly raid carried out the day before by the Israeli army in Jenin, according to the Hamas movement.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said soldiers had tried to prevent Israeli settlers from attacking Turmusayya, but their numbers were insufficient.
“In the first wave, we didn’t have enough forces in the area they (the attackers) had chosen,” he told reporters on Friday. “We failed this time,” admitted Mr. Hagari.
PHOTO DENIS BALIBOUSE, REUTERS ARCHIVES
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk
Residents of Turmusayya told AFP they saw 200 to 300 Israelis storming their village, attacking residents and damaging dozens of homes and cars.
On Friday, a delegation of more than 20 representatives from diplomatic missions, including those of the European Union and the United States, visited the village on Friday to inspect the damage.
“No effort”
Among them, the representative of the European Union in the Palestinian territories, Sven Kuehn von Burgsdorff, criticized Israel for not respecting its obligations in terms of protecting the Palestinians.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Palestinian students mourn during the funeral of their classmate Sadil Naghnaghiya, 15, killed during an Israeli incursion in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, on June 21, 2023.
“There was no attempt or effort to stop the (Israeli) settlers,” he said.
Israeli police on Friday reported three arrests in connection with the violence, without further details.
Many Palestinian-Americans who reside in Turmusayya have expressed anger over Washington’s inaction.
“We are helpless,” Yaser al-Kam, 33, told AFP. “I speak on behalf of this peaceful town where 80 to 90% of the inhabitants are American citizens”. “We have passports, does he count this passport? “.
A 25-year-old Palestinian, Omar Jabara, killed Wednesday in Turmusayya, was the holder of a green card (American residence permit), an American official told AFP.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said on Friday that “the latest killings and violence, along with the inflammatory rhetoric, only serve to drive Israelis and Palestinians deeper in the abyss”.
But the Israeli Minister of National Security, from the extreme right, Itamar Ben-Gvir deemed necessary a “military operation” of large scale in the West Bank.
“The terrorists must be eliminated, not one or two, but tens and hundreds, even thousands if necessary,” said Mr. Ben-Gvir, himself a settler.