Israelis attack Palestinian cars in retaliation to suspected accidental death

Several vehicles attacked after a woman was killed in a suspected accidental hit-and-run incident near the settlement of Havat Gilad

Israelis have allegedly attacked several Palestinian cars in retaliation for the killing of an Israeli woman in a suspected hit-and-run incident near the West Bank outpost of Havat Gilad last week.

Hava Roizen died after being struck by a car driven by a Palestinian taxi driver who subsequently turned himself over to Palestinian police in Nablus. Israeli security forces believe that the incident was likely an accident and not a deliberate terror attack.

According to the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency, three Palestinians, including two children, were wounded when assailants, who were described as settlers from Yitzhar, stoned their car near Nablus.

“When I was returning from Ramallah towards Tulkarem, my two children and I were attacked by at least 15 masked Israeli settlers, who blocked the road in front of us and surrounded the vehicle, which prevented us from moving,” said Munther Abdelhafez Mousa, describing how his sons Tareq, 13, and Muhammad, 4, were wounded by glass shards.

Ma’an also reported that settlers allegedly damaged some 40 cars and engaged in other acts of vandalism.

Citing human rights organisation B’Tselem, the Times of Israel reported that hundreds of olive trees in the West Bank villages of Arraba and Luban a-Sharqiya were found uprooted on Friday, followed by a similar incident in Ras Karkar in which Hebrew graffiti was found at the scene.

According to the left-wing Ir Amim organisation, 15 vehicles in the mostly Arab neighbourhood of Issawiya in Jerusalem had their tires punctured on Saturday evening. Graffiti reading “Jerusalem Arabs are terrorists, Havat Gilad” was found nearby.