Israeli settler runs over Palestinian child in Hebron city

An Israeli settler on Tuesday evening ran over a four-year-old Palestinian child in the southern part of Hebron city in the occupied West Bank.

Medical sources at al-Ahli Hospital told Ma’an that Layan Ayed al-Razem, 4, was brought into the hospital with “bruises all over her body, mainly on her right leg.”

Sources added that she is in a stable condition.

Locals told Ma’an that al-Razem was crossing the street in the Jabal Jales area of southern Hebron city when an Israeli settler ran her over with his car.

The Israeli police and Magen David ambulances arrived to the scene and took the child to the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, before bringing her to a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance a half and hour later.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Ma’an he was not familiar with the incident.

It was unclear whether authorities believed the incident to be deliberate.

Mistreatment of Palestinians in the Hebron area has been common since the city was divided in the 1990s after a US-born settler, Baruch Goldstein, massacred 29 Palestinians inside the Ibrahimi Mosque.

The majority of the city was placed under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, while the Old City and surrounding areas were placed under Israeli military control in a sector known as H2.

The area is home to 30,000 Palestinians and around 800 Israeli settlers who live under the protection of Israeli forces. Hebron residents frequently report attacks and harassment by the settlers carried out in the presence of the forces.