Extremist settlers fail to kidnap Palestinian child after raiding town and memorial

Palestinian children playing on May 7, 2022 [Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency]

June 10, 2022 

Israeli settlers attempted to kidnap a Palestinian child yesterday near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron during an attack on local residents, reported Wafa news agency.

Ratib Al-Jabour, the area coordinator of the National Committee for the Resistance of the Apartheid Wall and Settlements, told Wafa, that extremist settlers from Ma'on and Karmiel settlements stormed the town of Yatta, based in Masafer Yatta, where they assaulted Palestinian residents.

Additionally, they tried to kidnap a child but failed after local residents fought back, forcing the settlers to retreat.

They also hired bulldozers and began building a settlers-only road east of the town.

Masafer Yatta falls within Area C, which makes up 60 per cent of the occupied West Bank. It is under Israel's military and administrative control and, as a result, the occupation state reserves the area largely for the benefit of illegal settlers.

READ: Israel settlers rebuild illegal outpost in occupied West Bank

Simultaneously, the Israeli settlers destroyed a nearby memorial to 69-year-old Suleiman Al-Hathaleen, who was killed earlier this year after an Israeli settler ran over him with a car on orders from Israeli forces.

The community is regularly attacked by settlers from the Israeli Karmiel settlement, which is expanding at the expense of the village's land.

According to UN statistics, Israel has demolished or expropriated 217 Palestinian buildings in Masafer Yatta since 2011, leading to the displacement of 608 Palestinians.