In recent years — and especially since 7 October 2023 — there has been a sharp increase in both the number and severity of settler attacks against Palestinians. The incidents reported on this blog do not reflect all incidents of settler violence in the West Bank, but only those that B’Tselem was able to document and investigate.
Huwarah, Nablus District: Israeli settlers attack a Palestinian home with stones, set a rec room and car on fire and steal belongings. Soldiers fire tear gas canisters and throw stun grenades at the defending occupants
Burnt furniture in the guest room. Photo by Salma a-Deb’i, B’Tselem
On Sunday, 26 February 2023, at around midday, Palestinian militants shot and killed Israeli brothers Hillel and Yagel Yaniv, who live in the settlement of Har Bracha, while the two were waiting in a traffic jam on a road that runs through the town of Huwarah. That afternoon, hundreds of settlers, escorted by soldiers, invaded several neighborhoods in the town of Huwarah as well as the villages of Za’tara, Burin and ‘Asira al-Qibliyah, and carried out a pogrom.
At around 6:00 P.M., settlers went into Radi and Jamileh Dmeidi’s yard in Huwara while only Jamileh Dmeidi (60) and her 90-year-old mother-in-law Fatimah were home. Fatimah, who suffers from epilepsy, had a seizure. A short time later, Jamileh’s two sons, ‘Ammar (36) and ‘Udai (33), came to the house and entered through the back door, avoiding the settlers. The brothers went to the kitchen and collected glasses and other kitchenware, climbed up to the roof and started throwing them at the settlers to repel them.
The settlers kept throwing stones at the house, shattering a window. They went into a standalone rec room and stole sports equipment, a security camera monitor, DVRs, an Xbox and a TV, and then set fire to the room, burning down everything in it, including the electrical system. The settlers also smashed the windows of ‘Ammar’s car and set it on fire.
Image
‘Ammar Dmeidi’s car after being vandalized and torched. Photo by Salma a-Deb’i, B’Tselem
B’Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb’i collected testimonies from two family members:
‘Ammar Dmeidi, 36, a father of four, described what happened that day in the testimony he gave:
On Sunday, 26 February 2023, at around 2:00 P.M., I saw on social media that a Palestinian shot and killed settlers on the main street in Huwarah. I expected the military would close the entrances to town and also to Nablus, like it does every time there’s a shooting in the area.
I also found out settlers were calling for a protest in Huwarah at 6:00 P.M., and I expected they would damage property here.
Our family’s houses are in the northern neighborhood of the town, about 300 meters from the main road. I left the family business in Nablus at around 5:00 P.M. with my father, Radi Demeidi (67) and my brother ‘Udai (33), so we could get home, fearing the roads would be closed. The military had already closed the Huwarah checkpoint, the Yitzhar road and the ‘Awarta road, so we had to drive through villages and get around military jeeps that were blocking rural roads too.
When we got to the road about 900 meters from the Yitzhar junction, soldiers had closed it. I tried explaining to them that I had to get through because my wife, Ruba Dmeidi (27), called and said that the settlers were already near the house. She was home alone with our children, Radi (10), Larin (5), Ahmed (2) and Adam (1). The soldier was not convinced and asked me to video-call my wife to prove to him that I was going home. I tried to call, but my wife didn’t answer. I called my son Radi, and he answered me in tears, saying settlers were in the house. I asked him about his mother, and he told me she couldn’t find her phone. Despite all this, the soldier was not convinced.
We were 600-700 meters away from the house. My brother ‘Udai and I got out to walk home, and my father, who is an amputee, continued in the car, hoping he’d be able to get through another way. It took us a few minutes to arrive, and when I got closer, I saw more than ten settlers throwing stones at the house. I didn’t know how to get into the house without going through the settlers and getting hurt. I went around and knocked on the back door, but no one opened it for me, probably out of fear. I went to the house next door, which belongs to my parents, and came across settlers there too. They threw stones at me. ‘Udai and I threw stones back at them, and they backed away. At that moment, I heard my wife open the door, and I went to her. ‘Udai went to his house. My kids were hysterical. They were crying, terrified. My wife was crying too. I tried to calm them down, and then I went with ‘Udai over to my parents’ house to see how my mother, Jamileh (60), and my grandmother, Fatimah (90), were doing. My grandmother was in the middle of an epileptic seizure. She was lying on the floor, convulsing, and my mother was very confused and didn’t understand what was going on around her.
Meanwhile, the settlers returned and threw stones again. About 25 settlers entered the yard, and there were about 200 settlers in the area. Two military jeeps were standing right in front of the house. I saw settlers holding an Xbox, a TV screen, a DVR and weights that they took from the rec room. I didn’t know what to do. I went up to the roof together with ‘Udai to try to repel them. From the roof, I saw smoke rising from the rec room in the yard. I shouted to the soldiers in the jeeps that the house was on fire, and one of them ordered me to go inside. I told him: Look what the settlers are doing. He told me: Go inside, or I’ll shoot you. He pointed a gun at me.
‘Udai and I went down into the house. We took glasses and other kitchenware from the kitchen to throw them at the settlers and try to get them away from the house. I saw smoke rising from my car, and then I lost it and got scared they’d burn us inside the house. We threw the stones they threw on the roof back at them. A glass I threw hit a settler in the head, injuring him, and then the soldiers fired four or five tear gas canisters in our direction and threw 10 or 15 stun grenades. Then the settlers retreated together with the soldiers. I went down to the yard right away and put out the fire in the car, which hadn’t caused much damage yet. The stuff in the guest room burned down completely. My father only came home after the attack was over.
We are still shocked by what happened here. My wife and children went to her parents’ house in Nablus, and it’s been a week now. They tried coming back twice, but each time my five-year-old daughter Larin refused to sleep in her room and told me she didn’t want to die. My wife doesn’t want to come back to live at home either. She is afraid to be there alone. We stay on the alert and follow the news.
Jamileh Dmeidi, 60, a mother of seven, said in her testimony:
I am married to Radi (67), and we have seven sons and daughters. On Sunday, 26 February 2023, at around 6:00 P.M., I was at home with my mother-in-law, Fatimah (90), who suffers from epilepsy. She had a seizure and fell off the chair onto the floor. I tried to pick her up, and I couldn’t because I have a herniated disc in my back and muscle weakness as well as heart problems. I didn’t know what to do. Suddenly, I saw a settler in our yard. He went into the rec room next to the house. I saw several other settlers enter the yard and join him.
Just then, my sons ‘Ammar and ‘Udai came home. They came in through the back door so that the settlers wouldn’t see them, went up to the roof and tried to repel the settlers by throwing glasses and kitchenware at them. I closed the blinds and locked the door, and then a stone came in through the window and hit the glass cabinet. I saw a settler holding a bag with liquid in it. He tied it up and threw it into the rec room next to the house, and then a fire broke out there. I was very scared - for my sons, too - who were on the roof with the settlers throwing stones at them. I shouted at them to come down. I was afraid that I would lose them, that the settlers would shoot them. My mother-in-law passed out. I cried and didn’t know what to do. My son ‘Udai came down from the roof to get more dishes from the kitchen and saw me trying to pick her up, so he helped me put her in her room.
Soldiers escorting the settlers fired tear gas canisters, and we really suffered from the smell. Then my sons said that they also threw stun grenades at them. About ten minutes after the attack began, the settlers left. I went to the front door, and there was a strong smell of gas and smoke. I had a hard time breathing. I almost passed out. My sons took me into the house and called an ambulance, and the ambulance crew treated me. The fire in the rec room grew stronger, and the room continued to burn until 3:00 P.M., because the fire department couldn’t make it over because the military and the settlers were around. My sons tried to put out the fire but couldn’t. In the morning, we discovered that everything in the room had burned. The sports equipment, the security camera monitor, and the Xbox, DVRs and TV weren’t there. My son saw the settlers stealing them. The electrical system was also destroyed. There was embroidery work I made before I got married in that room too, which was very precious to me. They also set ‘Udai’s car on fire, but luckily we managed to put it out. ‘Udai had two phones in the car, some perfume and sunglasses. I don’t know if they burned or if the settlers stole them before setting fire to the car. They also smashed the rear window and one of the side windows of the car.
Since the attack, my grandchildren and daughters-in-law have been in bad shape emotionally. ‘Ammar’s wife moved back to her parents’ house in Nablus on the day of the incident. We’re still in shock. Larin, ‘Ammar’s daughter, refuses to sleep in her room and says she is afraid she’ll get killed. She only sleeps in her parents’ room. His son Radi asked us to move to Nablus. We are not calm, and we’re constantly following the news, afraid the settlers will come back.
