Israeli police arrested four Arab residents of the al-Rashiida diaspora late Sunday on suspicion of assaulting Jewish shepherds in eastern Gush Etzion. The arrests follow the violent attack on a shepherd near the Mikha Avraham outpost that left three hospitalized earlier this weekend.
Israeli police from the Judea District arrested four Arab residents of the al-Rashiida Bedouin diaspora late Sunday on suspicion of assaulting Jewish shepherds in eastern Gush Etzion, the force confirmed Monday. The suspects are identified as members of the Rashayida clan, police said, marking the second shepherd attack in the area this weekend.
The arrests come after a separate assault Sunday morning in which a shepherd from the Mikha Avraham outpost was surrounded by about a dozen Bedouin assailants, beaten unconscious with clubs and stones, and rescued by residents who also sustained injuries. Three shepherds were hospitalized at Shaare Zedek Medical Center. As The Zioneer first reported at 07:20 Monday, police had already arrested four suspects in that incident earlier in the morning, with two women also detained for questioning, according to i24NEWS. A subsequent version of the same bulletin at 08:21 quoted i24NEWS identifying those suspects as residents of al-Rashiida village. The current arrests, reported at 10:17 Monday, name the new detainees as from the al-Rashiida diaspora, but it is unclear whether they are connected to the Sunday morning attack or to a separate incident.
Earlier reporting by The Zioneer at 12:26 Sunday described a shepherd from the Maka Avraham outpost (also referred to as Mikha Avraham) being attacked by about a dozen assailants wielding clubs and stones, with the assailants fleeing to the village of Rashayida and no arrests reported at that time. The escalation over the weekend follows broader tensions in Judea and Samaria, where as The Zioneer reported on June 12, Arab rioters attacked new outposts in the Binyamin and Samaria regions, wounding three Israelis.
No further details on the exact circumstances of the latest assault or the specific involvement of the four arrested overnight have been released.
3 developments
- ConfirmedShepherd knocked unconscious in Gush Etzion stone-and-club attack; three hospitalized
- DevelopingArab rioters attack new outposts in Judea and Samaria, wounding three Israelis
- DevelopingBorder Police seize two handguns, arrest four illegal residents in Tzipori horse farm raid
- DevelopingTruck involvement reported at scene in Gush Etzion
Source and signal
- Internal intake