Israeli settlers smash cars, set fires in West Bank as 4 Palestinians killed

Ramallah: At least 10 Palestinians were injured in attacks in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers, who rampaged through nearby villages after holding a funeral for a settler killed in a car crash a night earlier.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the wounded in Deir al-Hatab included a 45-year-old man shot in the foot and a woman suffering from smoke inhalation. Videos obtained by The Associated Press show cars and homes set ablaze as army flares lit up the sky near the village east of Nablus and next to the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh.

The arson and assaults in four Nablus-area villages on Sunday came a day after the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported simultaneous attacks in at least six communities overnight -- the latest spates of violence in the occupied West Bank. Sunday night’s rampage came after mourners in the settlement of Elon Moreh held a funeral for Yehuda Sherman, an 18-year-old Israeli settler. Authorities said he was killed in a collision with a Palestinian vehicle in an area north of the villages attacked. Police said they were investigating the settlers’ claims that the collision was deliberate. Israel’s military did not respond to questions about Sunday night’s attacks.

The violence came as Israel’s government presses ahead with new settlements in the occupied West Bank and attacks by settlers -- including arsons, shootings and beatings.