Khamis Ayyad, 40, died of smoke inhalation after settlers set hearth to autos on the town of Silwad, Well being Ministry says.
A Palestinian man has been killed after Israeli settlers set hearth to autos and houses in a city within the occupied West Financial institution, the Palestinian Ministry of Well being says.
The ministry mentioned on Thursday that Khamis Ayyad, 40, died attributable to smoke inhalation after settlers attacked Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, round daybreak. Ayyad and others had been attempting to extinguish the fires, native residents mentioned.
Palestinian information company Wafa reported that the settlers additionally attacked the close by villages of Khirbet Abu Falah and Rammun, setting hearth to extra autos.
A relative of Ayyad’s, and a resident of Silwad, mentioned they awakened at 2am (23:00 GMT) to see “flames devouring autos throughout the neighbourhood”.
“The townspeople panicked and rushed to extinguish the fires engulfing the vehicles and buildings,” they mentioned, explaining that Ayyad had been attempting to place out a fireplace burning his brother’s automobile.
Ayyad’s loss of life comes amid burgeoning Israeli settler and navy violence throughout the West Financial institution in tandem with Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.
Settlers have been attacking Palestinians and their property with impunity, backed by the Israeli military.
Earlier this week, Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian from Masafer Yatta, the group whose resistance to Israeli settler violence was documented within the Oscar-winning movie No Different Land, with which he helped, was killed by an Israeli settler.
The suspect, recognized as Yinon Levi, was positioned under house arrest on Tuesday after a Justice of the Peace Courtroom in Jerusalem declined to maintain him in custody.
Based on the latest data from the UN’s humanitarian workplace (OCHA), at the very least 159 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops within the West Financial institution between January 1 and July 21 of this 12 months.
A whole bunch of Israeli settler assaults in opposition to Palestinians have additionally been reported thus far in 2025, together with at the very least 27 incidents that resulted in casualties, property injury, or each, between July 15 and 21, OCHA mentioned.
Observers have warned that the uptick in Israeli violence goals to forcibly displace Palestinians and pave the way in which for Israel to formally annex the territory, as tens of 1000’s have been compelled out of their properties in latest months throughout the West Financial institution.
Earlier this month, the Israeli parliament – the Knesset – overwhelmingly voted in favour of a symbolic movement calling for Israel to annex the West Financial institution.
On Thursday, Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Defence Minister Israel Katz mentioned in a joint assertion that “there’s a second of alternative that should not be missed” to exert Israeli sovereignty over the West Financial institution, in response to a Occasions of Israel report.
“Ministers Katz and Levin have been working for a few years to implement Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” the assertion mentioned, utilizing a time period utilized by Israeli settlers and their supporters to confer with the occupied Palestinian territory.
Again in Silwad, Raafat Hussein Hamed, a resident whose home was torched in Thursday’s assault, mentioned that the settlers “burned no matter they might after which ran away”.
Hamed instructed the AFP information company that the attackers “come from an outpost”, referring to an Israeli settlement that, along with violating worldwide regulation, can also be unlawful underneath Israeli regulation.
The Israeli navy instructed AFP that “a number of suspects … set hearth to property and autos within the Silwad space”, however forces dispatched to the scene have been unable to determine them. It added that Israeli police had launched an investigation.