The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates blamed the deputy head of the council of Jewish settlements in the northern West Bank for the incursion of settlers into the town.

Rather than request an apology from Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Washington should arrest the original author of the calls to burn Hawara, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Hawara must be erased,” Ben Zion tweeted before the attack, although he later deleted his words after much criticism. However, Smotrich later repeated them.

Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyed denounced on Wednesday that the Israeli official’s comment presage a dangerous escalation against the inhabitants of the occupied territories.

Shtayyed affirmed that Smotrich’s statements are enough by themselves to bring him to international justice, since they constitute an official incitement to commit new massacres.

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