Haaretz: Israel's Army Drafted and Armed Thousands of Settlers. Accounts of Their Violence Are Piling Up
Hagar Shezaf | 'Regional defense' battalions have grown fivefold since the war in Gaza started, and there are more and more accounts of settlers serving in them assaulting and threatening Palestinians | A week after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli communities near the Gaza border, Aisha Al-Aza, a 19-year-old Palestinian resident of Hebron, went up to the roof of her home. ● A man she recognized appeared across from her – a settler who was her neighbor. But there was something different. He was wearing a military uniform and was armed with an M16 assault rifle. "He swore at me, called me a bitch, and loaded his rifle," she says. "He threw stones at me, too." Al-Aza says the neighbor continued to hurl stones after she came down from the roof. ● About a month ago, on her way home from a military checkpoint, she met another settler who lives near her, also in uniform. He ordered her to show him her ID card and then her phone. She refused to hand over her phone, and he threatened to detain her. "As soldiers, the settlers are much harsher than the ordinary soldiers," she says. "Now they're in charge here."
■ 94% of probes into settlers violence led to no indictment: NGO