Unprovoked settler attack and military house invasion in Shuhada Street, Hebron

25 April 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

At approximately 11pm on Sunday 24, two Palestinians were physically beaten, one also attacked with pepper spray, by Israeli settlers in Hebron. Shortly afterwards, a reported 20 Israeli soldiers forcibly entered a house in Shuhada Street and ordered all under 16s out into the street.

According to a man interviewed by the ISM who lived in the house, two Palestinians, a middle-aged woman and a young man, were hit and the young man pepper-sprayed by Israeli settlers in the unprovoked attack. They fled to Checkpoint 56 located at the end of Shuhada Street.

Around 20 Israeli soldiers forcibly entered the Shuhada Street house containing three families which included young children. The soldiers then demanded that all children under 16 leave the house. The families refused this demand. The man interviewed by the ISM was then forcibly removed from his house, pushed up against a wall and searched by the military.

Whilst the two attacked Palestinians were giving their statements to the police at Checkpoint 56, two Israeli settlers, one heavily armed, watched close by. Witnesses from the Shuhada Street house were taken to the police station to give their statements. The ISM is not aware of any Israeli settlers having been questioned by the police.