HEBRON, West Bank: Jewish occupiers yesterday continued their atrocities against Palestinians in West Bank despite the heavily deployment of Israeli forces and police.
Palestinian sources said that the occupiers torched the house of Nidal Al-Owaiwi in the Old City of Hebron.
Owaiwi said that several occupiers stormed the house from the roof, setting fire to the living room and “completely destroying” the kitchen, all while the 11-member family hid themselves in a separate room. Owaiwi added that he called Palestinian Authority (PA) police, who arrived on the scene. Firefighters later arrived to extinguish the fire.
According to Owaiwi, two police officers were hurt as they suffered smoke inhalation while trying to rescue the family. The officers were evacuated to a local hospital for treatment by the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The occupiers’ hostilities against Palestinians’ property escalated after the evacuation of a disputed building in Hebron last Thursday, two weeks after the Israeli High Court of Justice ordered their eviction.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, the Jewish occupiers blocked a road near the Yitzhar settlement that links between Nablus and Tulkarm cities.
Palestinian sources said that the occupiers smashed the windows of Palestinian cars that approached the area. The mayor of nearby Madama town said that yesterday’s attack was the third since Thursday.
The Arab Member of Israeli Knesset Ahmad Tibi, held the Israeli security forces responsible for the violence carried out by the occupiers against the Palestinians.
In a separate development, an Israeli photojournalist on assignment for the daily Haaretz was assaulted by an Israeli soldier in Hebron yesterday while covering the ongoing attacks by occupiers.
Haaretz said that its photographer, Tess Shaflan, suffered light head injuries and was taken by an ambulance to hospital.
Shaflan stayed in Hebron alongside Haaretz reporter Fadi Edayat to cover the aftermath of the forced eviction of Jewish occupiers from the disputed home.
Edayat said Shaflan and another photographer were snapping pictures of Palestinian families inside their homes, which lie not far from the evacuated house, when Israeli troops arrived and temporarily requisitioned the homes.
