TRIGGER WARNING: Blood
On Friday, October 13th 2023, a settler from the illegal Israeli outpost of Havat Ma’on entered the Palestinian village of At-Tuwani, in the region of Masafer Yatta, armed with an assault rifle and shot a Palestinian man in the stomach at point blank range.
The video, which was made public by B’Tselem, shows the armed settler walking towards a group of Palestinians as he invaded the village. After hitting a Palestinian man with the gun, the settler pointed his weapon on the same man and shot him in the stomach, before falling back while keeping his weapon pointed on the unarmed group of Palestinians, who at this point were approaching the wounded man to rescue him. This happened as the armed settler was accompanied and protected by an Israeli army soldier.
The Palestinian man was rushed to the hospital and is now reportedly in stable conditions.
This episode comes amidst a peak of settler violence in the South Hebron Hills. On Thursday, October 12th, armed settlers dressed in Israeli army uniforms invaded the village of At-Tuwani from the illegal Israeli outpost of Havat Ma’on, shot live ammunition in the direction of Palestinians and internationalists, raided a house, wounded a Palestinian man, vandalised cultivated land and planted Israeli flags.
On the night of Saturday, October 14th, Israeli settlers entered the Palestinian village of Isfey at night and damaged the water tanks and electric grid of the village with knives.
Palestinians in Masafer Yatta are reporting frequent patrols of armed settlers on Palestinian lands and villages.
These attacks are increasing drastically in the occupied West Bank, with settlers taking advantage of the current situation of violence in Gaza, relying on all forms of violence either going unnoticed or being excused by the international community.