Iran Condemns Israeli Settlers’ Brutal Rampage in Palestine
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iranian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the barbaric deadly attacks that the Israeli settlers have carried out against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank with the support of the Zionist regime’s military forces.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani roundly condemned Israeli settlers’ brutal attacks against defenseless Palestinians in a rampage through villages in the Nablus area of the occupied West Bank.
He said such criminal acts that have occurred following the brutal killings committed by the Zionist regime’s army against the residents of Nablus and Jenin in recent weeks clearly amount to the Zionist regime’s “structural and state-sponsored terrorism”.
The Iranian spokesman also called for “decisive, effective and preemptive reaction” from the international community against the apartheid Zionist regime’s terror machine.
“The fake Zionist regime’s extremist and criminal actions and its lack of commitment to any treaty or agreement once again proved rightly that legitimate resistance against the Zionist occupiers and their aggressive measures is the sole option for the Palestinian people and resistance groups,” Kanaani stated.
Israeli settlers have carried out at least 300 attacks, including shootings and arson, in a rampage through Palestinian villages in the Nablus area of the occupied West Bank.
A 37-year-old Palestinian man identified as Samih al-Aqtash was shot in the stomach on Sunday night by settlers protected by the Israeli army in the village of Zaatara south of Nablus.
At least 390 Palestinians were injured in the settler rampage across the villages of Huwara, Zaatara, Burin and Asira al-Qibliya – all south of Nablus, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, adding that the majority were wounded from tear gas fired by the Israeli army as well as smoke inhalation from widespread fires set by the settlers.
Palestinian media reported stabbings and attacks with metal rods and rocks. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said one person was in hospital after being beaten in the head with a rock, causing fractures to the skull. Another person suffered a beating with a metal rod to the face.
At least 30 Palestinian homes and 100 cars were set on fire by settlers, Ghassan Daghlas, the Palestinian Authority’s head of settlement monitoring for the northern West Bank, told Al Jazeera.
The settlers carried out their rampage shortly after two Israeli settlers were killed in a shooting by a Palestinian man in Huwara. The settlers were two brothers in their 20s who lived in the illegal settlement of Har Bracha south of Nablus.