RAMALLAH, Friday, October 6, 2023 (WAFA) - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned in the strongest terms the 'heinous crime committed by a hateful and racist Israeli colonist in the town of Huwara, in Nablus, which led to the killing of a 19-year-old youth, raising the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and colonists in less than 24 hours to four.

The Ministry considered this crime an extension of the crimes and attacks of the organized and armed colonial militias against the Palestinian people.

The Ministry also strongly condemned the racist Israeli lawmaker Ben Gvir’s continuous boasting about colonists' freedom of movement in the occupied Palestinian territory, where he said it is more important than the lives of the Palestinians, considering it an official Israeli cover for this crime.

"What were the colonists doing in Huwara? Why did he [the colonist that shot the youth] come carrying his weapon? Where was the occupation's army in this situation?” asked the ministry, adding that such questions leave no doubt that we are facing a premeditated murder, which it stressed confirms that the occupying army is a partner in these crimes.

The Ministry held the Israeli government fully and directly responsible for this crime and others, and called for real international and American pressure to force the Israeli government and its various arms to dismantle the armed colonialist militias, stop their sources of funding, sponsorship and support, and take the necessary measures to stop the colonization and the construction of random outposts that have become bases for terrorist Israeli elements.

T.R.