The United Kingdom’s Minister of State for the Middle East, Alistair Burt, condemned on Monday the killing of a Palestinian during clashes between Palestinians, settlers and Israeli forces in al-Mughayyir village.
“I condemn yesterday’s (Saturday) violence in the West Bank in which a Palestinian man was killed. My thoughts are with his family. Those responsible must be brought to justice,” tweeted Burt.
A father of four, Hamdi Talib Nasan, 38, was killed by settlers from the illegal Adei Ad outpost after the latter raided the village late on Saturday.
The British government strongly condemned all forms of violence and incitement to violence, including settlers’ violence against Palestinians.
It welcomed any efforts by Israeli authorities to address the violence carried out by settlers and urged them to conduct the necessary investigations and bring those responsible to justice.
The Israeli army said soldiers did not fire live ammunition during clashes between Mughayyir citizens and settlers. Instead, they confirmed that settlers did so.
According to a report published in Haaretz, the army said settlers used live fire while its forces only used means of riot control.
It said settlers, Palestinians and the Israeli military each released different versions of events on Sunday regarding Saturday's clashes between settlers from the outpost of Adei Ad and Palestinians from Mughayyir where Nasan was shot and killed.
“The settlers do not deny that they fired live bullets, but contrary to their statements on Saturday, on Sunday morning they said that the army also used live fire,” the report noted, adding that Palestinians affirmed the settlers' claim, but the army has denied it.
Haaretz questioned the reason why emergency force were sent while they not have the authority to operate outside the outpost.
“Why was there a need to send this force to the village instead of calling the soldiers stationed near the outpost?” the report added.
The army was skeptical about the stabbing of a settler and acknowledged tensions between settlers and residents of the Palestinian village, during which a settler was slightly injured.
The commander of the West Bank district police ordered an investigation, which was launched Sunday.
However, residents of Adei Ad said that their civilian emergency responders had yet to be summoned for questioning. The nature of the suspicions against them is still unclear.
