Dozens of settlers attack the village of Jit and kill a local resident. Soldiers arrive later and also attack villagers

On Thursday, 15 August 2024, at around 7:30 P.M., residents of the southeastern neighborhood of Jit noticed dozens of settlers, most of them masked and some armed, approaching the al-Bayada area of the village from the direction of the Gilad Farm outpost. The settlers set fire to vehicles and homes, and when village residents came out to protect their property and belongings, confrontations developed between them and the settlers, which included mutual stone-throwing. About 20 minutes into the attack, Rashid a-Sadeh, 22, left his house with a relative to join the residents defending their homes.

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At that point, some of the settlers attacked ​​Mu’awiyah ‘Ali’s family home, setting it on fire and causing a blaze in the living room and kitchen. Other settlers went to Mahasen and H​​ani ‘Arman’s home and set fire to ​​a car belonging to their son, Muhammad ‘Arman, 26, which was parked nearby. Muhammad, who went out to confront the settlers with his brother, was hit in the jaw by a stone they threw. The settlers tried to catch Muhammad’s brother, but he managed to escape. Other settlers attacked Mahasen ‘Amran’s house and burned a couch and a stroller that were on the porch. In Ibrahim a-Sadeh’s house, settlers burned two vehicles, one owned by him and the other by a relative.

Meanwhile, other settlers attempted to set fire to the gate at the entrance of the a-Sakhen family home, located near the ‘Armans’, but the metal gate did not ignite. At around 8:30 P.M., villagers gathered near this house in an attempt to defend it, and a confrontation broke out between them and the settlers, who retreated about 30 meters into an olive grove. At some point, a settler fired at the residents with a rifle, and the villagers fled and took cover behind dirt mounds and a pile of cinder blocks. One man was wounded in the chest and taken to the hospital by car. A few minutes later, Rashid a-Sadeh, 22, was shot by the settlers. The bullet entered his abdomen on the right and exited through his left hip. He was taken to a nearby house and then driven to the entrance to the village, where an ambulance was waiting. He was taken to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus and pronounced dead shortly after arriving.

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Soldiers and Border Police officers arrived only about an hour after the incident began, and allowed the rampaging settlers to return to the outpost without arresting any of them. They also fired live rounds in the air and threw tear gas canisters at village residents, who retreated. Later, at around 1:30 A.M., military forces returned to the area, took testimonies from the residents, and then left.

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The conduct of the Israeli authorities in this case exemplifies the complete abandonment suffered by Palestinians both generally and specifically when it comes to violent attacks by Israeli settlers, as well as the direct and indirect cooperation of the Israeli authorities with these attacks. In this case, although the Shin Bet expressly warned the military and police about settler plans to attack Palestinian villages, not only did the military fail to prevent the incident, but also arrived long after it began, and even then, the soldiers and Border Police did not stop the attack, as evidenced in the fact that Rashid a-Sadeh was fatally shot after their arrival. The forces did not arrest any of the more than 100 settlers who took part in the attack. Only about a week later were a few settlers arrested on suspicion of involvement in the incident. Some of the suspects were released, and others were put under administrative detention after the Israeli authorities failed to collect enough evidence for prosecution.

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Contrary to statements made by military officers who tried to frame the incident, and their failure to prevent it, as an aberration, long-term monitoring by B’Tselem shows that settlers act in service of the state and on its behalf. Settler attacks such as this one have long since become routine and have intensified in scope and frequency since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip. They have resulted in Palestinian deaths and injuries and have led to the displacement of entire communities. This extreme violence is carried out by state proxies, often equipped, as in this case, with military-issued firearms and gear, and escorted and protected by Israeli soldiers. Violence is one of the ways in which the Israeli apartheid regime terrorizes its Palestinian subjects, violates their most basic rights and attempts to dispossess them of their property and land.

Background

The ancient village of Jit, located in the Qalqilya district, is home to about 2,500 Palestinian residents. In 1977, the settlement of Kedumim was established to its west, and in 2002, the Gilad Farm outpost was built to its southeast, mostly on land belonging to the village. Today, the military and settlers prevent residents from accessing about 2,660 dunams of their own land (1 dunam = 1,000 sq. meters). A large portion of this area stretches between the outpost and the village, and it is through there that the settlers entered the village on the night of the attack.

B’Tselem field researcher Abdulkarim Sadi collected testimonies from residents of the village. Below are a few:

In his testimony given on 17 August 2024, Hassan a-Sadeh, 27, recounted:

On Thursday, 15 August 2024, at around 7:30 P.M., I was at my house in the center of the village with my relative, Rashid a-Sadeh. I saw on social media that settlers were setting fire to olive groves in the al-Bayada area, which is on the southeastern edge of Jit. I looked east and saw smoke rising in between the trees, from the cars and houses that the Israeli settlers had set on fire.

At around 7:50 P.M., Rashid and I went out and headed to the area. When we got there, we saw that the settlers had set fire to three cars and a house: Muhammad ‘Arman’s car, two cars belonging to Dr. Ibrahim a-Sadeh, and Hani Mousa ‘Arman’s home. There were dozens of armed settlers there. They were masked and wearing black, and some of them had a white eagle printed on the back of their t-shirts. Some had handgun, others had rifles, and some had M-16s.

After it got dark, at around 8:30 P.M, I was there with a few other young guys when a large group of settlers, all masked and armed, approached us. One of them was standing about 20-30 meters from us in the olive trees, and he was holding a gun with a laser sight. I saw him shoot, and I hid with Rashid behind a pile of cinder blocks. Suddenly, I saw Rashid, who was just a meter away from me, fall to the ground beside me. I realized he’d been hit.

As the settlers tried to come towards us, I lifted Rashid with some other guys and took him to a nearby house, where I checked to see where he’d been hit. I saw a bullet hole on his right side, and that he was bleeding heavily. I checked for his pulse and couldn’t find it.

We took Rashid to the western entrance of the village in a car, and from there, a Palestinian ambulance took him to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus. The doctors tried to resuscitate him, but the bullet the settlers fired killed him. I was told that a​n hour after we left the village, the occupation army arrived, while the settlers were still rampaging and burning property.

I was also told that the ​Palestinian Authority Attorney General’s Office conducted an autopsy on Rashid’s body at An-Najah University Institute of Forensic Medicine in Nablus to determine the nature of the injury and the cause of death.

In the testimony he gave on 25 August 2024, Suheib Bassem, 30, a father of two, said:

On 15 August 2024, at around 7:30 P.M., I was in my shop in the center of Jit when a friend told me that a throng of settlers was attacking homes and property in the eastern and southern parts of the village. He said the settlers had come from the direction of the Gilad Farm outpost.

I closed up my shop right away and headed to the southern side of the village, towards the ‘Arman family’s homes. I saw dozens of settlers there, wearing black clothes and black masks. I saw them setting fire to a new car belonging to a young guy named Muhammad Rabah ‘Arman, which was parked nearby. They were also trying to break into one of the houses.

A few other young guys and I decided to go out and defend the properties in the area because I saw the settlers scattered in a few different spots. I was near the a-Sakhen family home with a few others, including Rashid a-Sadeh. About 20-30 meters away from us, there were dozens of masked settlers among the olive trees, some armed with rifles and others with handguns.

A confrontation started, which included mutual stone-throwing. We tried to push the settlers away from the houses and prevent damage to property. One of the settlers, who was armed with an M-16 rifle, fired at us several times, so we hid behind a pile of cinder blocks to protect ourselves.

At some point, the settlers managed to get closer to the a-Sakhen family home and tried to set the gate on fire. Fortunately, the gate didn’t catch fire because it’s made of metal. Then, one of the settlers fired at us from a distance of about 30 meters. He hit Rashid a-Sadeh, who collapsed and fell to the ground.

A few young guys and I evacuated Rashid to one of the houses, and from there we drove him to the entrance to the village, where an ambulance was waiting to take him to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus. I went to the hospital with some other people too, and when we passed the village entrance, we saw military jeeps there. At the hospital, the doctors pronounced him dead. Later, I learned that another young man was injured before Rashid, but he was able to walk on his own towards the houses and was evacuated from there.

In his testimony, given on 25 August 2024, Mu’awiyah Ali, 37, a father of five, said:

At around 7:30 P.M., my wife, our five children, ages 2 to 12, and I were in the house we rent in the southeastern neighborhood of the village. Suddenly, I saw a large group of masked settlers dressed in black and wearing black masks coming from the direction of the Gilad Farm outpost. They were about a hundred meters from our house. It terrified me. I was mainly worried about my wife and children.

We quickly gathered ourselves and left the house. We got into our car, which was parked in front of the house, and left before the settlers reached us. By the time we fled, they were already only about 20 or 30 meters from the house. My wife and children were very frightened.

We drove to another house we have in the center of the village, where I dropped off my wife and children. Then I went back to defend our house and belongings. When I arrived in the neighborhood, I saw dozens of settlers—I think there were more than a hundred of them.

One group set fire to Muhammad ‘Arman’s car, which was parked next to the fence of his house, about 70 meters from my place. Another group attacked my house. I couldn’t get there because the settlers had spread out in the area and were attacking houses. Just then, villagers began arriving to defend the houses, and a confrontation broke out between the young guys and the settlers, including stone-throwing.

During the confrontation, I saw one of the settlers press his hands against the wall of my house and another settler climbing onto his shoulders. He ripped off the iron mesh that protects our living room window and then poured a flammable liquid into the house and set it on fire. Flames started rising from the house, especially from the living room and kitchen.

There were lots of settlers with guns around my house, and the other villagers and I couldn’t get close. I also heard gunshots coming in our direction from the north.

At that point, some young men brought Rashid a-Sadeh, who’d been shot by the settlers to where I was. I went with him in the car that took him to the entrance on the village. He didn’t move at all on the way, and it seemed to me that he was dying. An ambulance that was waiting at the entrance to the village took him to Rafidia Hospital, where the doctors pronounced him dead.

In a testimony she gave on 18 August 2024, Mahasen ‘Arman, 64, a mother of four, said:

On Thursday evening, 15 August 2024, at around 7:30 P.M., I was at home with my husband, Hani, my daughter-in-law, Fadwa (my son ‘Abdallah’s wife), and her six-month-old baby, Ian. Our house is located at the edge of the eastern neighborhood of Jit.

Just by chance, I glanced at the screen connected to the security cameras we installed on the roof of our house, and I saw fire inside the cars near Dr. Ibrahim a-Sadeh’s house, which is across from ours. I went up to the roof and was horrified to see settlers setting fire to his cars.

I started shouting, calling for the neighbors to come out and try to put out the fire, but then I realized that because of all the settlers outside, they couldn’t or wouldn’t dare do so. I went back inside. We continued to watch what was happening outside on the security cameras and saw dozens of settlers attacking houses and trying to set them on fire. After a few minutes, some young men arrived from the center of the village to defend neighborhood homes and push the settlers away. Clashes broke out, and both sides threw stones.

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I saw the settlers advancing toward the entrance of our house, and then one of them poured a liquid on the couches on our porch, and another settler set them on fire. The flames destroyed a sofa and a stroller that were on our porch. The settlers also threw stones at our windows, but fortunately, they are protected by an iron mesh. They poured a flammable liquid on our front door and windows and then set them on fire. Because the doors and windows were closed, the fire didn’t spread into the house. We were terrified. My daughter-in-law and the baby screamed and cried.

About an hour into the attack, after the flames on the porch had already been extinguished, the army arrived, fired into the air and used tear gas, and only then the settlers backed away from our house.

In his testimony, given on 17 August 2024, Muhammad Rabah ‘Arman, 26, said:

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I live in my family’s house on the southeastern side of the village of Jit. On Thursday, 15 August 2024, at around 7:30 P.M., I heard our neighbor shouting, “Settlers are attacking! Settlers are attacking!” Then I could see groups of settlers coming toward our house. They were dressed in black, armed, and all of them had covered their faces with a black cloth. My brother went out right away to try and fend them off.

I saw through the window that some of the settlers were throwing stones at my car, which I bought only a few months ago. They smashed the windows, poured liquid into the car and on its frame and set it on fire. My brother threw stones at them and confronted them when they entered the yard. They attacked him with sticks and kicked him, but he managed to escape and hid behind our gate.

I went out to the yard, and the settlers threw stones at me. One of them hit my lip, and I started bleeding. After a few minutes, the settlers left. I saw other groups of settlers advancing toward the houses across from ours at the same time.