Masked Israelis settlers club Palestinians in Mount Hebron region

Two Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians in the Mount Hebron region on Friday, KAN reported. The two men, who were wearing masks, were caught on video clubbing the Palestinian citizens, before an IDF soldier arrived and shot into the air to disrupt the incident. 

KAN wrote that two Palestinians, a 38-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman, were wounded, and the woman remains in hospital. The two wounded were named by KAN as Annan al-Najjar and Vabha al-Najjar. The former has filed a complaint to the police.

The independent Israel-run organization The Daily File, which advocates for Palestinians and against settler violence, said that the woman had a fractured skull and the man had wounds and fractures.

In the video, the two armed and masked men can be seen approached the Palestinians, some of whom are seated and others standing, before attacking them with the clubs. One man and woman defend themselves, before falling to the ground, where they continue to be beaten. The man recording the video can be heard shouting "soldier, soldier!" repeatedly in Hebrew.

ביום שישי מעט לפני שמונה בערב הגיעו ארבעה רעולי פנים לפתח בית של משפחה בכפר שעב אל-בוטום בדרום הר חברון. הם הגיעו ממש לפתח הבית והכו באלות גבר בן 38 תושב המקום, אנאן אל-נג'אר ולאחר מכן גם את דודתו ובהא א-נג'אר, בת 58 --> pic.twitter.com/gmQNbqh01j

— Nurit Yohanan (@nurityohanan) July 21, 2024

Jaafar a-Najjar, a resident of the village of Shi'b al-Butum, where the incident occured, told KAN news that he had seen an Israeli herding sheep in the fields near to his village, and had called the police.

Despite having told a-Najjar that they would call the army, he told KAN that no-one had arrived after three hours, so he and other residents had gone to the man and demanded that he leave the area.

According to the man, the two  masked Israelis then arrived five minutes after.

Arguments involving stolen sheep

The masked men allegedly accused the Palestinians of stealing their sheep, and that they would take them back, according to A-Najjar. 

"A soldier and a settler started searching through our flock, and four of them then arrived at my brother's house. He, my uncle and my wife were sitting in the doorway of the house. My brother told them 'this is my house' and there were beatings that you see in the video," he told KAN.

KAN obtained a separate document which reportedly shows the same Israelis and the same soldier approaching the village, in southern Mount Hebron area, the morning before the incident. 

The Palestinian residents said there were five soldiers in the area at the time of the incident.

The Palestinians who were injured are Annan al-Najjar and Vabha al-Najjar. After the incident, the two were hospitalized. The man was released and filed a complaint with the police, who also collected testimonies on the matter from Palestinians after the incident.

The IDF spokesman said in response: "We received documentation of an attack on a Palestinian woman and man by a number of masked Israelis in the area south of Mount Hebron. One of the IDF soldiers jumped into action and fired into the air to stop the attack."

However, according to the KAN report it was likely that the soldier did not arrive at the scene because of the attack, but had accompanied the Israelis in the first place.