Palestine’s Huwara should be wiped out: top Israeli minister

A senior Israeli minister has said the Palestinian village of Huwara should be “wiped out” days after far-right settlers went on a rampage in the occupied West Bank villages, torching dozens of houses and cars in the wake of the killing of two Israeli brothers.

“I think the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out. I think the state of Israel should do it,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also handles civil administration in the occupied West Bank – was quoted as saying by Israeli media on Wednesday.

The Israeli police on Wednesday arrested six suspects over the deadly attacks in villages around the West Bank city of Nablus during which settlers fired live ammunition killing a 37-year-old Palestinian man.

“It’s incredibly inflammatory,” said Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from West Jerusalem.

“A very senior minister who is in charge of some affairs within the occupied West Bank for Israel calling for the destruction of a Palestinian city,” Khan said.

His comments come after Zvika Fogel, a member of parliament from the extremist the Jewish Power party, on Monday appeared to welcome the settler violence in Huwara – home to about 7,000 people.

“A terrorist came out of Huwara – and Huwara was closed and burned,” Fogel said. “This is what I want to see. That’s the only way we’ll achieve deterrence.”

“After a murder like [Sunday’s], villages should burn when the IDF [Israeli army] does not act,” she added.

Fogel, who is part of far-right coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is now under investigation from the attorney general and the police.

At least 390 Palestinians were injured in the attacks that an Israeli general described as a “pogrom”, with Palestinian media reporting stabbings and attacks with metal rods and rocks.

Israeli police said they expected to make more arrests during their ongoing investigation into the settler violence, which centred on the Palestinian village of Huwara, where the two Israeli brothers from a nearby settlement were shot dead.