JERUSALEM / Anadolu

** Israeli human rights center: - Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians on Monday in the village of Deir Jarir in the central West Bank and provided protection for settlers who stole dozens of sheep - The international community continues to grant Israel impunity, allowing settler attacks to continue under the protection of the army and police

The Israeli human rights center B'Tselem confirmed on Monday that what happened in the village of Deir Jarir in the central occupied West Bank on Sunday evening is an example of Israel's encouragement of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people.

The center said in a statement: "During a joint raid by settlers, soldiers and police in the village of Deir Jarir in the Ramallah district on Sunday night, soldiers opened fire on Ahmed Abu Mukh (26) and Odeh Farakhna (53), killing them and wounding three others."

It added that one of the wounded remains hospitalized in 'serious' condition.

It continued: "The forces accompanied the settlers during the raid on the village and helped them steal dozens of sheep."

The center published a video clip taken by a camera mounted on an ambulance, which it said documents the moment of the shooting of Abu Mukh, who was wounded in his lower abdomen and later died of his injuries.

About 750,000 settlers live in 141 settlements and 224 outposts in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and they commit attacks aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians.

** Ethnic cleansing

The center's executive director, Yuli Novak, said in the statement: "The killing in Deir Jarir is an example of how Israel is encouraged to carry out ethnic cleansing in the West Bank."

She added: "Settlers break into Palestinian lands and plunder them, while the army and police accompany them and open fire on Palestinians trying to protect their homes and property."

She continued: "The international community continues to grant Israel impunity, allowing this mechanism to persist," referring to ethnic cleansing.

Since the genocide Israel has been committing in the Gaza Strip since October 8, 2023, the Israeli army and settlers have intensified their attacks on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank.

B'Tselem noted that since October 2023, Israel has killed about 1,092 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including at least 242 children and adolescents.

It said: "The Israeli regime leaves Palestinians in the West Bank vulnerable to systematic Israeli violence on a daily basis, while perpetrators of these crimes enjoy near-total immunity."

Israeli attacks also include vandalizing and demolishing homes, bulldozing agricultural land, preventing farmers from accessing it, displacing Palestinians, and expanding settlements on their land.

Palestinians warn that Israel, through these attacks, is paving the way for formally annexing the West Bank, which would undermine the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state as stipulated in UN resolutions.

In 1948, Israel was established on land seized by armed Zionist gangs that committed massacres and caused the displacement of at least 750,000 Palestinians; then Israel occupied the rest of the Palestinian territories and refuses to withdraw.