JERUSALEM — Israeli settlers rampaged through a Palestinian village in the West Bank, setting fire to a series of structures, according to security camera footage obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday, in an overnight onslaught that has become a common phenomenon in the occupied territory.
In the video, time-stamped at around 10 p.m. Saturday, several structures in the village go up in flames as the sound of gunfire, screaming and barking echoes in the background. At one point in the video, the fires grow so large that they illuminate the bands of settlers, dressed in black, pacing freely through the village.
Also Sunday, at least four more countries said they had been invited to join U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, the international body expected to oversee his Gaza ceasefire plan and perhaps other conflict resolutions.
Meanwhile, an Israeli Cabinet minister said that he'd ordered officials to disconnect the water and electricity for facilities of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, or UNRWA. It's the latest action in Israel's long-running campaign to shut down the agency. UNRWA fears the shutdown could hamper its work in east Jerusalem.
Settler attack video
The footage obtained by the AP showed the moment dozens of settlers descended on the small Bedouin hamlet of Khirbet al-Sidra, north of Jerusalem, attacking Palestinians and international activists and burning cars and homes, according to the Palestinian Authority's Jerusalem governate, which monitors Palestinian affairs in the area.
In a statement, it said that eight homes and at least two cars were burned in the attack.
Israel's military said that soldiers dispatched to the village found an Israeli vehicle with clubs inside. It said that Palestinians, Israelis and foreign nationals were injured, and troops were searching the area to make arrests. As of Sunday afternoon, no arrests had been reported.