US senior citizen comes under attack in Israel

Cassandra Auren was attacked by Israeli settlers near Al-Khalil, West Bank, Palestine.

A senior citizen from the United States has been brutally attacked by an Israeli settler amid growing tensions in the occupied lands.

Cassandra Auren, 65, this month suffered a potentially fatal blow to her head in the West Bank, US media reported on Monday.

The mother of two from the Midwestern US state of Wisconsin was hospitalized for two days and required six stitches after she suffered a fractured skull and internal bleeding.

Auren told The Daily Beast that an Israeli settler struck her in the head with a long wooden stick as she was visiting the village of Tuba in the Massafer Yatta area south of the old town of Al-Khalil.

“The attack by the male settler, who had a small child with him, took me totally by surprise as there was no prior confrontation and no provocation on my part. It all happened so fast I had no time to think about whether my life was in danger,” Auren said.

There was a fracture and external bleeding at the site of the trauma, the doctor’s report stated. The CT scan revealed a right subdural hematoma, 3mm in thickness. In addition, the doctor reported decreased hearing in Auren's left ear.

Auren continues to suffer from severe headaches. “When I came around my head was painful and I was dizzy,” she said after the blow to her head..

The Daily Beast reported viewing a video in which an armed Israeli settler was chasing Auren and an Italian woman accompanying her.

“I now understand the fear that Palestinians feel all the time, especially the women and children because at night I also get afraid that the settlers might attack again,” Auren noted.

Auren, who is a residential carpenter, traveled to the region as a peace activist.  However, she became a victim of a surge in violence that has gripped the Israeli-occupied region since Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power.

On Sunday, a group of settlers threw Molotov cocktails at the house of a Palestinian family in Sinjil town, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, setting the house on fire.

Netanyahu's return to power as prime minister of the regime’s most far-right cabinet ever has emboldened the Israeli settlers to carry out arson attacks and paint graffiti on Palestinian property in the West Bank and Jerusalem al-Quds.

Israeli forces have killed more than 250 Palestinians and arrested thousands more over the past year.  

Palestine's Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has called on world leaders to launch an “international intervention” against the Israeli crimes in the occupied regions.