4 Jewish Israeli terror suspects detained over attack on West Bank village Jit
Shin Bet interrogating quartet, including minor, over deadly riot last week and other terror-related incidents
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Four Israeli settlers, including a minor, were detained overnight by police over their suspected involvement in an attack on the Palestinian West Bank village of Jit last week, authorities said Thursday.
According to a joint statement issued by police and the Shin Bet security agency, the four Jewish Israelis were suspected of terrorism against Palestinians in several incidents, including the attack on Jit.
Some 100 extremist settlers are believed to have perpetrated the rampage on August 15, torching at least four homes and six vehicles in the village located just west of Nablus.
One Palestinian man was killed and another was wounded by gunfire in the incident. The Palestinian Authority health ministry named the slain man as 23-year-old Palestinian Rasheed Seda.
The Shin Bet and police indicated that the shooting was carried out by the settlers.
The four suspects were being questioned by the Shin Bet.
During the incident, the Israel Defense Forces said it had managed to detain one suspect in connection to the riot. However, it was later reported that the suspect’s arrest was unrelated to the riot and he was released.
Earlier this week, the chief of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, and the head of the Civil Administration, Brig. Gen. Hisham Ibrahim, visited Jit.
The visit came as part of a military investigation into the settler attack.
The riot was condemned by Israeli leaders across the political spectrum, and also drew international backlash, including from the White House and several European diplomats.
Settler violence spiked after the October 7 massacre carried out by the Hamas terror group in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage, but violence was already on the rise before then, according to watchdogs.
Israeli authorities rarely arrest Jewish perpetrators in such attacks. Rights groups lament that convictions are even more unusual and that the vast majority of charges in such attacks are dropped.
Since October 7, troops have arrested some 4,850 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,960 affiliated with Hamas.
According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 630 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.
There have also been several cases of settlers killing Palestinians in the past 10 months, some of which are still under investigation.
During the same period, 27 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another five members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.
