WEST BANK: A funeral was expected on Sunday for a man Palestinian officials say was killed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Hundreds of Israeli settlers backed by occupation forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching cars and homes, and left at least two villager dead and dozens wounded.
The attacks escalated in multiple villages on Saturday after an Israeli body was found near the Malachei Hashalom settlement outpost.
The mayor of nearby Palestinian village Al-Mughayyir, Amin Abu Alyah, said that "dozens of settlers" had attacked it and burnt "everything they find in front of them. They burnt a house, a bulldozer and a number of vehicles."
Journalists reported Jewish settlers, who were part of a search party for the Israeli Achimeir, firing shots and torching homes and cars while residents responded by throwing stones.
One Palestinian, Jihad Abu Alia, was killed in the violence, with his funeral held on Saturday, while 25 were wounded, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Mustafa condemned the attacks and urged the authorities to help the people of Al-Mughayyir.
The violence spread to other parts of the West Bank, with Suleiman Dawabsha, the mayor of Duma near Nablus, saying that Israeli troops and settlers had set fire to more than 15 houses and 10 farms in his village. In Baytin, a village east of Ramallah, a Palestinian teenager, aged 17, was killed, the health ministry said. The funeral was expected to take place on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid also criticised the violence, saying "violent riots of the settlers are a dangerous violation of the law and interfere with the security forces."
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis live in West Bank settlements considered illegal under international law.
The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has seen a surge in violence since early last year, which has intensified since Gaza war erupted on October 7.
At least 463 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank, according to Palestinian official figures.
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, urged the UN to "authorise the deployment of a protective presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, with the explicit mandate to prevent and (repel) attacks against civilians". — AFP
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