Settler shoots and wounds 3 Palestinians near Hebron – report

Three Palestinians were reportedly shot and wounded by an Israeli man outside the town of Surif on Saturday.

Witnesses told Haaretz that the incident began when one of the Palestinians arrived at land that he owns, near the settlement of Bat Ayin, in the Etzion Bloc south of Jerusalem.

The Palestinian said a group of men came from the settlement and began to throw rocks at him. The landowner then called his relatives and asked them to come and help him, his brother told the newspaper.

The report said seven Palestinians and around 10 settlers then began hurling rocks at one another. One of the settlers opened fire at an arriving car, among whose passengers were children, witnesses said.

Three wounded Palestinians were taken to a hospital in nearby Hebron and one of them underwent surgery. They were all listed as either moderately of lightly injured.

Israeli security officials did not respond to requests for comment on the incident.

Masked Israelis descend a hilltop during an alleged assault on Palestinians and left-wing Israeli activists near the Palestinian village of Surif, which borders the Israeli settlement of Bat Ayin. (Shai Kendler)

Residents of Bat Ayin have previously been involved in acts of violence toward Palestinians.

Last November, some 20 Jewish Israelis descended a hillside near the settlement and attacked Palestinians and left-wing Israeli activists who had come to pick olives, according to police and witnesses. The masked assailants were armed with clubs, hurling stones at the group, witnesses said.

Ahuvia Sandak, 16, and a resident of Bat Ayin, was killed in a crash while fleeing from police in December 2020, shortly after he and friends allegedly attacked Palestinian drivers.