TEL AVIV, Israel — Dozens of masked men armed with sticks beat and injured a Palestinian man in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after they attacked a plant nursery, according to witnesses and video footage reviewed by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Video filmed by security cameras, AP reported, shows men dressed mostly in black with their faces covered hitting and kicking a man on the ground. AP said Yassin runs from the group before falling, stays on his knees as he is struck again, and is later seen lying on the pavement after additional blows as the men leave.
Two witnesses who are members of the family that owns the facility identified the injured man as 67-year-old Basim Saleh Yassin, and AP said they spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. The witnesses said Israeli settlers beat Yassin as he tried to flee the German-Palestinian-run nursery in the northern West Bank village of Deir Sharaf.
The family members said workers fled when they saw the settlers coming, but Yassin is deaf and did not hear warnings to leave. They said Yassin was in the hospital with broken bones in his hand and injuries to his face, chest and back. AP also reported that four cars at the nursery were burned.
The AP account described the attack as part of rising Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, where assaults increased during the Palestinian olive harvest in October and have continued. It said Israeli authorities have done little beyond issuing occasional condemnations, according to rights groups and Palestinians, and described Palestinians saying the problem is wider than a few bad actors.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the perpetrators “a handful of extremists” and urged law enforcement to pursue them for “the attempt to take the law into their own hands.” AP reported that Israel’s army said it dispatched soldiers to the Shavei Shomron junction near the area of the attack after reports of dozens of masked Israelis vandalizing property, and that it apprehended three suspects who were taken to police for questioning. The army said security forces condemn violence of any kind.
AP also reported that, according to one family member, it was the third time in a year that the nursery was attacked. That family member said a previous incident in September caused the business more than $600,000 in damage as offices and facilities were damaged.
In Gaza, hospitals reported at least two Palestinians killed. AP reported that al-Ahly Hospital received the body of a man killed in an Israeli strike in the Zaytoun neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, and that Nasser Hospital reported a Palestinian killed by Israeli gunfire in Bein Suhaila town east of Khan Younis.
Later, AP said Israel’s military stated that its forces killed two “terrorists” in northern Gaza who had approached troops and killed another who approached troops in southern Gaza. AP said a fragile ceasefire has held in Gaza since it took effect on Oct. 10, with mediators trying to move Israel and Hamas into a second phase that includes Gaza’s security and future governance, and that both sides have accused each other of violations while the remains of one hostage remain in the territory from the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.