Hamas says Israeli settler violence ‘playing with fire’

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Sunday condemned Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem.

In a statement, group spokesman Mohammad Hamada termed settler violence as “blatant aggression and playing with fire.”

Several Palestinians were injured on Saturday night when Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian homes in Sheikh Jarrah.

Hamas called on the Palestinians “to rally support to our people in Sheikh Jarrah” and to confront settler violence.

Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah have complained of repeated attacks by Israeli settlers, who reside next to them in homes taken from Palestinians over past years.

Last year, tensions ran high in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood after an Israeli court ordered the eviction of several Palestinian families in favor of Israeli settlers.

In 1956, 28 families settled in Sheikh Jarrah under an agreement with the Jordanian government, which ruled the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, before the Israeli occupation in 1967, and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Israeli settlement associations, however, claim that the homes were built on land that was owned by Jews before 1948, a claim vehemently rejected by Palestinians.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara