Ben Gvir: The West Bank villages should be treated as Beit Hanoun was treated - Sarmad

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, stated on Friday that cities and villages in the West Bank should be treated as Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip was.

Speaking after clashes near the town of Tal and the settlement of Havat Gilad, in which five people were killed and several others injured on both sides, Ben-Gvir said he would “demand orders for the army to destroy the homes of terrorists and their supporters.”

He added, “For every Jew killed, the enemy must bear the loss of land and homes.”

Israeli media reported that “a crowd of Palestinians attacked a group of hikers near the Havat Gilad outpost, and during the incident, a handgun was taken from one of the hikers and used to open fire.”

Palestinian media, however, stated that settlers attacked the town of Tal in Nablus.

In this regard, the Ynet news website quoted settlers saying that the shooting was preceded by a violent clash near a mosque in Tal village, where several settlers were hiking.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that four people were killed and four others injured, three of them in critical condition, in Tal, southwest of Nablus.

For his part, Israeli ambulance services reported that one Israeli was killed and three others injured in the attack near the Havat Gilad settlement in the West Bank.

Later, the Israeli military said in a statement that “following reports of an armed attack in an area near Havat Gilad, Israeli army soldiers were dispatched to the Tal area, and additional reinforcements were sent to the site. They are pursuing the gunmen and establishing security checkpoints in the area. A temporary security cordon has been imposed on the city of Nablus and the Tal area.”