Within hours of their arrest, court releases all 8 suspects in settler rampage of Palestinian towns

A Central District Court judge has ordered the release of all eight suspects who were arrested for rioting and assaulting Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank overnight and Wednesday morning.

Members of the Civil Administration, which runs civil affairs in the West Bank, and Border Police operated overnight to demolish illegal settler outpost construction near the Palestinian village of Beit Furik, close to Nablus. The outpost construction was on private Palestinian land.

During the evacuation of the Or Yosef outpost, the Israel Defense Forces said settlers hurled stones at the forces, injuring two Border Police officers.

A short while later, the settlers stormed Beit Furik, “set fire to property in the area and threw stones at the village,” according to the army.

In the nearby town of Huwara, settlers carried out another attack against Palestinians, setting fire to property and hurling stones.

The Yesh Din anti-occupation watchdog said a house of a family of seven was set ablaze, as well as two vehicles. The group said neighbors saved the family from the blaze, but the father was attacked with rocks and sticks and was hospitalized with skull fractures.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Rujeib, another Palestinian village in the Nablus area, some 20 settlers gathered, the IDF said, apparently in preparation for another attack.

When IDF soldiers and Border Police troops arrived, the settlers clashed with the forces, the military said.