Huwwara: Palestinian children among dozens wounded during Israeli settlers' rampage

Dozens of Palestinians were wounded during Israeli settlers' attack on the town of Huwwara, north of the occupied West Bank, on Monday.

The settlers stormed the town in the evening, hurling stones at Palestinians, their cars and properties. Palestine's Red Crescent said that 31 people were wounded, and five of them were rushed to the emergency department of Ibn Sina hospital.

Six children were wounded from stones hurled at them by settlers, with one sustaining injury in the head. They were all rushed to a hospital in Nablus.

One video posted online showed setters hurling stones at a Palestinian supermarket in Huwwara, where Palestinians hid inside it, before attacking parked cars outside, smashing their windows. 

Four Palestinians, including a girl trapped in a car, were attacked by settlers outside the supermarket on the main street of Huwwara. Settlers smashed the driver and passengers' windows with an axe and stones before Palestinians fled the scene. A Settler had also fired a live bullet at the vehicle.

"They were shooting at us with live ammunition. God helped us," Omar Khalifa told Reuters. He had just finished shopping at a supermarket and got into the car with his family when masked-clayed settlers attacked them.

"My wife was sitting in the back and she hugged our daughter to cover her. We could have lost her, there was real danger to our lives."

Soldiers dancing with settlers

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas canisters, and footage showed Israeli soldiers dancing with settlers in Huwwara celebrating the Jewish holiday, Purim. 

Moeen Dmeidi, the mayor of Huwwara, said that the settlers' rampage lasted around an hour and a half.

"The pogroms in Hawara continue also as part of the settlers' Purim celebrations, backed by the government and lack of enforcement by the authorities," Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group, said.

According to Haaretz, the Israeli army said it is investigating the behaviour of some soldiers' dancing, which “is not consistent with what is expected of soldiers during operational activity.”

Asira al-Kablia, a resident of Huwwara, said that he was sitting in the car when settlers attacked them outside the supermarket.

"Settlers attacked the vehicle with clubs and stones, and there was also shooting at the vehicle. I fled the scene at the last minute; they also used tear gas and pepper spray," he told Haaretz.