Israel frees suspects in two settler attacks as West Bank pogroms intensify
Nine of 10 settler suspects arrested over attacks on a US journalist and European diplomats in the West Bank have been freed by an Israeli court.
Israel has released nine of the 10 Israeli settler suspects arrested over violent attacks on a US journalist and European diplomats in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli court in Jerusalem ordered their release late on Wednesday.
One suspect remains in custody while investigations into the assaults continue, Israeli police said.
Masked settlers were filmed last week assaulting Heidi Levine, a Washington Post photojournalist who was covering a Palestinian olive harvest. She was taken to hospital. In a separate attack earlier this week, masked settlers assaulted French, Belgian and Polish diplomats.
The suspects had been detained after the United States called for a crackdown on settler violence, with France, Belgium and Poland also condemning the attacks. Yonatan Kan, of the Israeli rights group Yesh Din, said arrests remain the exception: “In the vast majority of attacks against Palestinians, no arrests are made at all.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the situation in the West Bank was deteriorating, citing “daily attacks by Israeli settlers” and attacks on journalists and diplomats. He called for “a credible political path towards lasting peace.”
The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said it documented 409 attacks in October — 317 by settlers and 92 by Israeli forces. Nablus recorded the most, with 166, followed by Salfit with 91. The attacks included assaults on farmers, olive groves set ablaze, and harvested olives stolen.
Ali Hassan Bazzari, from Burqa, died of wounds from settler gunfire while picking olives on October 7.
Source: Al Jazeera English — TrendWire reports stories in its own words; facts should be confirmed against the original source.