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Dozens of masked men armed with sticks attacked a nursery, beating and injuring one. Palestine in the occupied west bankThat’s according to people who witnessed the attack and video footage obtained by The Associated Press.
Video captured by surveillance cameras showed that most of the men were dressed in black, with their faces covered, and several of them punched and kicked a man who was lying on the ground.
Israeli settlers beat 67-year-old Basim Saleh Yassin as he tried to flee his nursery in the northern West Bank village of Deir Sharaf, two people who witnessed the attack and members of the family who own the facility said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
They said Yassin was in hospital with a broken hand and injuries to his face, chest and back. Four cars were burned inside the nursery.
The attack is the latest in escalating violence against settlers in the West Bank. Settler attacks intensified during the Palestinian olive harvest season in October and early November and have continued ever since.
israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu Calling the perpetrators a “small group of extremists” and urging law enforcement to hold them accountable for their “attempt to take the law into their own hands.” But human rights groups and Palestinians say the problem goes beyond a few bad apples and that attacks have become a daily occurrence in the region.
The Israeli army said it had dispatched soldiers to the Shavei Shomron junction near the attack area after reports that dozens of masked Israelis were damaging property. The military said it arrested three suspects and had been transferred to a police station for questioning. The statement said security forces condemned any form of violence.
According to a member of the family who owns the German-Palestinian-run nursery, this is the third time in a year that the facility has been attacked.
The last incident, in September, cost the company more than $600,000 as offices and facilities were damaged, he said.
The family member said workers fled on Thursday when they saw the settlers arriving, but because Yassin is deaf he could not hear people warning him to leave.
The video shows Yassin running away from a group of masked men before falling to the ground.
One man kicked him and another hit him twice with what appeared to be a stick. Yassin was still on his knees when he was attacked again and then put his hands on the ground. As the men left, one of them kicked him in the head and others beat him again until he was seen lying on the pavement.
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Magdi reported from cairoEgypt