Palestinian nurse shot and ambulance pelted with stones by Israeli settlers in West Bank, says aid group

Palestinian nurse shot and ambulance pelted with stones by Israeli settlers in West Bank, says aid group The World Health Organisations says the number of Israeli attacks on Palestinian healthcare workers in the West Bank rose more than fourfold in a month - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Palestinian healthcare workers are increasingly being attacked and detained amid escalating violence across the West Bank, warns a British charity. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said that in the past week alone, a Palestinian nurse was shot and partially paralysed in a settler attack in Sa’ir, north of Hebron, and on Sunday around 10 Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian doctor in Jannatah, east of Bethlehem. They beat him with stones and sticks, smashed his car windows, and broke his hand, according to MAP. Palestinian nurse Mohammad Nabil Al-Mutawir, 26, said he was stood outside the house he was building in preparation for his upcoming marriage when an Israeli settler shot him in the back. The bullet completely severed his spinal cord. He told WAFA news agency that the injury may have limited his movement but not his resolve. “Despite my injury, I will not leave my home,” he said, referring to the house he had been working to finish. “This injury will hinder my movement, but it will not break my will.” On Tuesday, Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulance while it was transporting a patient from the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron, a city in the southern West Bank. The ambulance driver says that approximately 10 to 15 settlers started jumping in front of the ambulance and hitting it with stones. “This happened in front of their parents and in front of Israeli soldiers,” he told MAP. “They continued hitting the ambulance for around 10 to 15 minutes. I could not reverse because there were cars behind me.” "I speak Hebrew, so I was able to communicate with one of the soldiers. He told us that the only way forward was for an Israeli military jeep to drive in front of us, with our ambulance following very closely behind. It seems like the soldiers had been instructed not to stop the settlers.” He says that the area he was in – Al-Suhada Street – is known for these kinds of attacks. “Thank God, no one was physically injured this time.” “I really want to continue saving lives, but I also have to think about my family and my children,” he says, adding that he has two sons and two daughters. “I think about them every time I go to work.” He says the settlers’ parents were standing nearby carrying weapons, and worries that they would have shot at the ambulance if he had lost control because of the stones hitting the vehicle. "We have become accustomed to these situations, but that does not mean they are normal.” He called on the UK government to help protect healthcare workers, amid the surge in attacks: “This is something the UK Government must take seriously and act on." The number of recorded attacks on healthcare in the West Bank rose more than fourfold, from eight in June to 37 in July, according to a report released last week by the World Health Organisation (WHO). There were 98 attacks on healthcare workers from January to July. This comes as Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have fully or partially displaced 107 communities since January 2023, alongside unprecedented settlement expansion. It said that the settlers responsible for attacks operate with the “financial, material, and legal backing of the Israeli state.” Attacks by armed settlers often happen alongside Israeli army units or with soldiers standing by, it noted. These attacks on Palestinians have skyrocketed in 2026, with the United Nations warning in July that it had hit an “all-time high”, as the Israeli government continues to approve new settlements. In early August, the village of Al-Tuba, in the southern Masafer Yatta region, was the target of a violent rampage by Israeli settlers, who set fire to homes in an unprovoked attack. HRW says countries should impose targeted sanctions on those implicated in settler violence, suspend arms transfers to Israel, ban trade with illegal settlements, and consider suspending preferential trade agreements with Israel. MAP says that healthcare workers also face the prospect of arrest for speaking out in support of their colleagues. On Tuesday in Ramallah, Israeli forces detained Palestinian obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Dima Mohammed Amin Barakat, 54, after raiding her home. She had previously spoken publicly about the recent detention of fellow Palestinian doctor, Dr Mazen Al-Rantisi. Aseel Baidoun, MAP’s Deputy Director of Advocacy and Communications in the West Bank, warned that “we are rapidly reaching a point of no return.” “The shooting of a Palestinian nurse, the attack on a doctor, and the detention of another doctor within days of each other show just how quickly state-backed violence is becoming normalised in the West Bank,” she said. “Instead of focusing on saving lives, they are having to work under the constant fear that they themselves could be shot, attacked or tortured in an Israeli prison.” Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments [Image text:] 110 AMBULANCE