Israeli settlers storm Palestinian home in Hebron at night, harass family

Israeli settlers storm Palestinian home in Hebron at night, harass family
Israeli settlers stormed a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank town of Hebron on Friday night and harassed the residents, footage shared widely on social media shows.

2 min read
28 August, 2021
Settlers tried to kick down the door of a home belonging to a Palestinian family in Hebron [Getty]

Israeli settlers stormed the home of a Palestinian family in the occupied West Bank town of Hebron on Friday night and harassed its residents, footage shared widely on social media purportedly shows.

A group of Israeli settlers, including children, gathered outside the house. Some of the settlers tried to kick down the doors, video taken from the house's front yard showed.

The footage later cuts to what appears to be the settlers on the roof of the house.

The home belonged to a Palestinian man named Moufid Al-Sharbati, Palestinian human rights accounts Eye on Palestine and Media Defenders said.

Hebron is known to be an exceptionally hostile environment for Palestinian residents, due to its high concentration of settlers in the city.

Palestinians in Hebron are routinely harassed by Israeli settlers and soldiers. Their homes are subject to demolition to make way for new Israeli settlements, and olive trees are uprooted.

Israel has occupied the West Bank illegally since 1967 and commits various abuses against Palestinian civilians, human rights groups say.

More than 600,000 Jewish Israelis live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in constructions deemed illegal under international law.

In April, the UN raised alarm over a marked upsurge in settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, with assaults and property destruction occurring in "an atmosphere of impunity".

In the first three months of 2021, the Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented over 210 settler violent incidents, with one Palestinian fatality.

The attacks, according to the UN agency, were primarily designed to take over land but also to intimidate and terrorise Palestinians.

The UN group urged Israel to investigate and prosecute these "violent acts with vigour and resolve".