![A view of damage after Jewish settlers set fire to Palestinian homes and vehicles in the village of Jatt, located in the Qalqilya governorate, West Bank on August 16, 2024. [Issam Rimawi - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/AA-20240816-35415201-35415196-JEWISH_SETTLERS_SET_FIRE_TO_PALESTINIAN_HOMES_AND_VEHICLES_IN_THE_WEST_BANK.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
The Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission stated on Friday that the Israeli occupation army and settlers set 273 fires targeting Palestinian land and properties since 7 October, 2023.
The head of the commission, Mouayad Shaban, stated: “The Israeli occupation military and settlers have used the cover of the ongoing aggression by the occupying state to commit numerous crimes, with fires being a prominent method, in a clear attempt to terrorise the innocent and destroy their properties. This aims to create a large-scale process of forced displacement and confining the Palestinian presence to isolated and besieged ‘cantons’.”
Shaban explained that after 7 October, the army and settlers intentionally caused a total of 273 fires damaging properties and fields, the last of which was the fire and attack on the village of Jit, east of Qalqilya.
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He added that the most prominent of these fires were in the governorates of: “Nablus with 120 fires, then Ramallah and Al-Bireh with 42 and Jenin with 26. Seventy-seven fires affected citizens’ lands, fields and crops, while 196 fires targeted citizens’ properties, including residential apartments, buildings, vehicles and others.”
Shaban continued that regarding the perpetrators, the raids and attacks of the occupation army caused the outbreaks of 56 fires that affected government and private properties. The joint attacks between the settlers and the occupation army caused nine fires, and the settlers carried out the largest share, with 208.
Shaban noted that setting fires is a constant and escalating mechanism that causes severe damage, which the Israeli entity is insisting on adopting and supporting. He added that it can only be viewed as a means of terrorism and intimidating the innocent as well as a fascist attempt to inflict heavy losses on citizens that affect their social and economic statuses, warning that various parties in the occupation state will continue this practice in Palestinian villages, towns and cities under the cover of war and emergency law.
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