Illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers invaded the town of Huwwara, south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, at dawn on Sunday and set fire to a Palestinian vehicle in the Be’er Qoza area.
The attackers torched the car belonging to Abhal ‘Ayed Ahmad Odah and spray‑painted racist slogans on the exterior walls of his home before attempting to ignite a second vehicle owned by his brother. Residents confronted the colonizers and forced them to flee, preventing a second arson attack.
The assault reflects a well‑established pattern of organized colonizer violence targeting Huwwara and surrounding Palestinian communities.
The town has endured repeated attacks over the years, with groups of fanatic colonizers frequently invading at night or dawn to burn vehicles, vandalize homes, and intimidate families.
Numerous violations have been documented in which colonizers from nearby illegal outposts, particularly those linked to Yitzhar, have carried out coordinated assaults on Huwwara, often under the protection or passive presence of Israeli occupation forces.
These attacks , some fatal, have included burning homes, endangering families, burning farmlands, hundreds of cars, destroying agricultural property, attacking farmers and olive harvesters throwing stones at homes and shops, and spray‑painting racist slogans intended to terrorize residents and assert control over the area.
Huwwara’s location along Road 60, a major north–south artery in the West Bank, has made it a strategic target for colonizer groups seeking to impose territorial dominance and restrict Palestinian movement.
These attacks are rarely isolated incidents but part of a broader escalation of colonizer violence across the West Bank, where Palestinian communities face near‑daily invasions, property destruction, and intimidation.
The attempted burning of a second vehicle in Sunday’s attack highlights the expanding scope of these assaults, which often aim to inflict maximum damage before residents can mobilize to defend their neighborhoods.
Community resistance has frequently been the only barrier preventing further destruction, as Israeli forces seldom intervene to stop colonizer groups and, in many cases, accompany them during their incursions.
The racist graffiti left on the Odah family home mirrors markings documented in previous attacks, where colonizers use slogans to signal territorial claims and threaten Palestinian families with further violence.
The arson attack in Huwwara underscores the ongoing vulnerability of Palestinian towns situated near illegal outposts and colonialist roads. It also reflects a broader climate of impunity in which colonizer groups operate with little restraint, escalating their assaults on Palestinian civilians, homes, and property.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
Articles 53 and 147, prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime.
