Palestine: Israeli Ministers Accused of Encouraging Attacks

On Friday, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused far-right Israeli ministers of inciting and encouraging an escalation of attacks by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, amid the bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants condemned in a statement "in the strongest terms the escalation of attacks and crimes by organized settler militias against Palestinian citizens, their lands, properties and holy sites."

In this regard, it blamed the heads of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Bezalel Smotrich for inciting these extremists to commit systematic violations.

According to the ministry, as part of these campaigns, in recent hours numerous settlers have distributed leaflets threatening to kill or deport Palestinian citizens. 

Furthermore, it criticized several incursions into West Bank villages and towns, robberies, tree felling, physical assaults and even the use of firearms against civilians.

It also stated that the terrorism practiced by the followers of Ben Gvir and Smotrich is part of the Israeli campaign against the Palestinian people.

The Foreign Ministry warned about the consequences of these actions, while Benjamin Netanyahu's government intensifies its attacks against the Gaza Strip, where more than seven thousand people have been reported dead since October 7.

Once again, we call on the international community to put pressure on Israel to force it to put an end to its "destructive war against our people in the Strip," the Foreign Ministry said.

It is also necessary to control and dismantle Ben Gvir's armed gangs and treat them as terrorist organizations, it stressed.