News- Middle East: In response to deadly settler attacks near Ramallah, Hamas has issued a call to Palestinians in the West Bank, urging them to rise up and deter further “settler terrorist attacks.”

In a statement on Friday, the Gaza-based resistance movement warned that the settler attacks on the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, and the assault on residents in Khirbet al-Tal in Jabal al-Batin, south of the town on Friday, confirm the “terrorist nature of the Israeli occupation and its fascist plans to steal our land and uproot our people in the West Bank.”

“The policy of unleashing settler gangs with the backing of the extremist right-wing Zionist government and the protection of the Nazi occupation army will only increase our people’s attachment to their land and holy sites,” read the statement.

The resistance group called on the people in all West Bank governorates to rise up and to deter the “settler terrorist attacks, and to activate all forms of resistance until the aggression is defeated.”

Hamas also mourned martyr Saif al-Din Kamel Abdul Karim Muslat, who was killed by the settler militias’ aggression in Sinjil, affirming that this pure blood will not be in vain and will be a curse upon the occupation and its settlers.

Muslat was an American-Palestinian who was beaten to death by the settlers.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, several hours after the murder of Muslat, another Palestinian man, Mohammed al-Shalabi, 23, was killed after being shot by illegal settlers in the town.

“The medical report confirmed his death as a result of a live bullet wound to the chest, which penetrated the back, and that he was left to bleed for hours,” said the Ministry.

Rights groups have documented numerous instances of Israeli settlers in the West Bank ransacking Palestinian neighborhoods and towns, and burning homes and vehicles in attacks described as pogroms.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, at least 998 Palestinians have been killed, and more than 7,000 were injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported.

According to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, by the end of 2024, the number of illegal settlers in the West Bank had reached around 770,000, spread across 180 settlements and 256 outposts, including 138 designated as agricultural or grazing outposts.

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Al-Quds.

Source: Press TV