State Attorney Amit Aisman announced on Sunday that he will oversee an investigation into Thursday’s rioting by extremist settlers in the Palestinian village of Jit.
During the riot, 23-year-old IT professional Rasheed Seda was killed and homes and vehicles were set ablaze. No suspects have been arrested yet over the incident.
Aisman convened a meeting of senior officials in the State Attorney’s Office and representatives of the Israel Police, the Shin Bet and the IDF on Sunday to discuss the investigation into the riots, his office said in a statement to the press.
During the meeting, it was decided that the State Attorney’s Central District Office will “closely supervise” the investigative cases opened into the riot, “under the oversight of the state attorney and the deputy state attorney.
“At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that all branches of all law enforcement agencies will combine efforts” in order to prosecute those who “harmed people and property,” the State Attorney’s Office said.
According to a report by Channel 13 news, Aisman said at the meeting it was “unthinkable that no evidence was gathered at the scene,” while a Shin Bet official said police “took a long to arrive, and not for the first time.”
A senior Justice Ministry official said “the conduct of [West Bank] police in the past year and a half has been scandalous,” the report said.
Since the start of the war in Gaza in October there have been numerous reports of police failing to tackle settler violence targeting Palestinians in the West Bank.
Some 100 extremist settlers are believed to have perpetrated the rampage on Thursday night, torching at least four homes and six vehicles in the village located just west of Nablus.
According to a report by the BBC, when young men from the town came to try and repel the rioters by throwing stones at them, the settlers opened fire at them.
Beyond the man who was killed, at least one other Palestinian man was severely injured in the incident, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The riot was condemned by Israeli leaders across the political spectrum, and also drew international backlash, including from the White House and several European diplomats.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he viewed the incident “with severity,” though he appeared to frame the actions as a misguided attempt to fight terror, saying: “Those who fight terrorism are only the IDF and security forces, not anyone else.”
President Isaac Herzog issued a statement saying he “strongly condemns” the riot, saying it was “not our way and certainly not the way of Torah and Judaism” and calling for swift action to “bring the lawbreakers to justice,” and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant denounced the “handful of extremists” for rampaging in Jit “while our soldiers are fighting on various fronts to defend the State of Israel.”
Yair Golan, leader of the left-wing Democrats party, blamed the coalition for what happened, writing on X: “Netanyahu brought the representatives of the rioters in Kfar Jit to the Knesset and appointed them to be ministers. Therefore, it is not an extreme minority or a small problem, but rather a violent group that receives enormous government support.”
In a statement to The Times of Israel on Thursday night, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council said that “attacks by violent settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank are unacceptable and must stop.”
“Israeli authorities must take measures to protect all communities from harm. This includes intervening to stop such violence and holding all perpetrators of such violence to account,” continued the statement.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.