Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian house in West Bank

A Palestinian family has survived an incident in which Israeli settlers set fire to their home in the occupied West Bank.

According to Palestinian media reports, a group of settlers threw Molotov cocktails at the home of Ahmed Awashreh in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, on Sunday morning.

Awashreh said he was awakened by the sound of a window slamming and managed to get his four children and wife out before the flames spread. "It was so close. I'm glad I was able to save my family."

A Sinjil resident told media he saw cars nearby which he recognized as Jewish settlers minutes before the incident.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the arson attack, blaming "terrorist elements" for the incident.

Under the slogan "price tag", Israeli settlers carry out arson attacks and paint graffiti on Palestinian property in the West Bank and in al-Quds (Jerusalem). The price tag attacks are acts of vandalism targeting Palestinians and their property, as well as Muslim holy sites.

In 2018, Israel's so-called Supreme Court upheld a decision to release and place under house arrest a suspect in connection with a 2015 arson attack that killed a Palestinian couple and their young son.

In another incident on Saturday, two Israeli soldiers were wounded, the military said. It happened during a car shootout alleged by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP), a Palestinian resistance group, in the hotspot West Bank city of Huwara.

Huwara has been the subject of attacks by the Israeli military and settlers alike in recent weeks.

In late February, hundreds of armed Israeli settlers attacked Huwara and surrounding villages, setting dozens of houses and cars on fire. They were angered by the killing of two Israeli brothers by a Palestinian gunman in the city. One Palestinian was killed and at least 390 were injured. Israeli rights groups Peace Now and B'Tselem have described the incident as a settler "pogrom" supported by the occupying regime.

Palestinians have been increasingly targeted since late December 2022, when Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power as prime minister of the regime's most far-right cabinet in history.

Over the past year, Israeli forces have made thousands of arrests in the West Bank and killed more than 250 Palestinians, including resistance fighters and civilians.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has called for "international intervention" against Israeli crimes.