Extremist Israeli settlers today cut off scores of centuries-old olive trees for Palestinian farmers in the village of Husan, to the west of Bethlehem in the south of the occupied West Bank, local sources said.
Mohammad Sabatin, the mayor of the village, told WAFA that a group of Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Bitar Elit, nearby, broke into a farm in the village and smashed and destroyed nearly 50 olive trees belonging to local farmers.
Sabatin added that the settlers destroyed a number of retaining walls made up of stones as well as barned fences encircling farms in the village.
Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and their property is commonplace in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli occupation authorities.
Source: Palestine News & Information Agency
Israeli soldiers kill a Palestinian young man near Ramallah
A Palestinian young man was shot and killed by Israeli occupation soldiers tonight at the north entrance to the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to the Ministry of Health.
The young man, identified as Yazan Omar Khasib, 23, was reportedly shot by soldiers at the Israeli military checkpoint at the entrance to Ramallah. He was arrested in critical condition by the soldiers, only to be announced dead of his wounds a few minutes later.
Palestinian ambulance and medical staff were denied access by the Israeli army to the scene where the young man was first reported wounded. Khasib’s body was held by the Israeli occupation military for nearly two hours, before the body was turned over to the Palestinian side.
The Israeli military shut down the checkpoint to the Palestinian traffic in the aftermath of the shooting.
The latest Israeli crime brings up the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupation forces since the beginning of the year to 89, including 17 children and an elderly woman.
Source: Palestine News & Information Agency