At least four Palestinians were wounded by gunfire during clashes with settlers north of Ramallah in the West Bank, Palestinian media reported Friday.
Palestinian reports said four people were hit by the gunfire, including one person in serious condition with a bullet wound in the head.
Videos posted to social media showed fields and several vehicles apparently set on fire by the settlers.
Witnesses told the Palestinian Wafa news agency that five vehicles and 270 bales of straw were torched.
The Israel Defense Forces said that troops were dispatched to the area and they were investigating the possibility that settlers had fired in the air during the clashes.
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They were also investigating reports that a Palestinian man was wounded in the shooting. The army said two settlers were lightly hurt in the clashes.
RT @Timesofgaza "lsraeli colonial settlers torch Palestinian-owned vehicles near al-Mughayyir village, northeast of Ramallah. https://t.co/b3RCGsYFIB pic.twitter.com/iXttPdsj1S"
— Richard Hardigan (@RichardHardigan) May 26, 2023
This was the second reported incident of clashes between settlers and Palestinians this week.
Several Palestinians and an Israeli settler were hurt Wednesday during clashes near the northern West Bank outpost of Homesh, in violence that erupted after European officials toured the area.
According to the Yesh Din rights group, several extremist settlers attacked Palestinians in the village of Burqa and set fire to homes. Video from Burqa showed residents trying to extinguish the blazes.
Yesh Din said the incident came after European Union diplomats visited the area around Homesh, a former outpost evacuated in 2005 after the High Court found it was built partly on private Palestinian land belonging to residents of Burqa.
Last week, the army lifted an order forbidding civilians from entering the site of the former settlement, which right-wing groups say they hope to resettle.
The Peace Now anti-settlement watchdog, which along with Yesh Din and Emek Shaveh led the tour for the diplomats, denounced the violence in Burqa as a “revenge operation” by settlers.
