In the late afternoon of Tuesday, 20 June 2023, two Palestinians shot and killed four people and injured four others at a gas station next to the settlement of Eli. That same evening and in the days that followed, hundreds of settlers, escorted by soldiers and police officers, invaded several Palestinians villages and towns in the Nablus and Ramallah areas and carried out pogroms.
On Wednesday, 21 June 2023, at around 8:00 P.M., about two hundred settlers came to the a-Safafir neighborhood in the eastern edge of the village of ‘Urif and attacked residents and homes with stones. An 18-year-old from the village sustained a head injury from a rock thrown by settlers and was taken to the hospital in Nablus for treatment. Residents of the village gathered in the area and drove the settlers out by throwing stones and firing fireworks. After about half an hour, soldiers arrived at the scene and then dozens of settlers returned to the village. The soldiers fired live rounds in the air and tear gas canisters at the residents and threw stun grenades at them. After the residents went back inside the neighborhood, settlers continued to advance deeper into the village. They got to the mosque in the center of the village, tried to set it on fire, vandalized copies of the Quran and threw them into the street. Settlers also set fire to a haystack that stood next to the home of Mu’taz Safadi (30), next to the mosque, and damaged the door of his home. They threw stones at the home of ‘Issam Safadi (46), situated about five meters from the mosque, and smashed several of the home’s windows, including the window in the front door, shingles above the door and three lights placed around the house. Soldiers who were present at the scene did nothing to stop the rioters.
Afterwards, the settlers retreated toward the settlement of Yitzhar, and the soldiers remained in the village and clashed with young people who threw stones at them. Soldiers fired massive amounts of tear gas canisters and live fire. Jamileh Safadi (60), a resident of the village, was injured in her hand by live fire while in her home. Many residents were suffered gas inhalation and received treatment on-site. The soldiers left after about an hour.
On that same day, the ‘Urif school security cameras caught two settlers entering the schoolyard, smashing a classroom window, pouring a flammable substance both inside the classroom and outside it, and lighting it. The next day, 22 June 2023, Palestinian Ministry of Education personnel arrived at the site and found that a desk and chair in the classroom had been scorched by some a flammable substance that had presumably been poured into the classroom.
In a testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb’I, Jamileh Safadi (60), a mother of eight adult children, said:
My husband and I live in the center of the village. On 21 June 2023, at around 8:00 P.M., I heard an announcement from the mosque to come to the a-Safafir neighborhood because there was a settler attack. I had just prepared food and called my husband ‘Omar and his brother Muhammad who was visiting us to come eat. I was anxious about the situation, after hearing about the settlers attacks in Turmusaya and a-Lubban a-Sharqiyah, so even though I had fasted that day ahead of the holiday, I wasn’t really able to eat. When we finished eating, we made coffee and then we heard shooting and yelling from the street, and I went to close the window.
As soon as I put my right hand on the window, I felt a sharp pain. I didn’t understand what happened. I looked and saw I was bleeding heavily from my hand. I shouted to my husband that my hand was injured, and he came over and also didn’t understand what had injured me. I washed my hand, and we wrapped it in a towel, and my husband immediately drove me to the clinic in the village. When we got there, the doctor called an ambulance that took me to the Rafidya Hospital in Nablus, where the doctors said I’d been injured by live fire and the bullet had entered my hand and then exited it. They stitched up the wound and bandaged my hand and told me to come back in two weeks to be seen by an orthopedist.
We went home about two hours later, and the situation in town was quiet by then. I understood from the neighbors that the settlers had attacked the mosque and the school and had tried to burn a classroom and homes. I was happy the attack was over and that they didn’t manage to burn homes or cars like in other villages. We are constantly on alert, waiting for their attacks – even though we have no connection to the people who shot settlers at the settlement of Eli. I feel sorry for the residents of the eastern neighborhood, who constantly suffer from such attacks. We don’t feel safe in our homes either. I thank God that I was injured in my hand and not another part of my body.