Israeli lawmaker smashes Palestinian memorial in occupied West Bank

Israeli lawmaker Tzvi Succot on Tuesday smashed a memorial bearing the names of Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank village of Madama in the presence of Israeli soldiers, according to Israeli media.

Succot, a member of the far-right Religious Zionism party, posted a photo on US social media company X showing himself using a large hammer to smash the memorial in the village, south of Nablus.

He said he had repeatedly called on the Israeli army in recent weeks to remove what he described as "terror memorials" throughout the area.

"I very much hope this will be done as soon as possible," he said.

Video footage circulating on social media also showed Succot smashing the memorial while Israeli soldiers were present.

Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth said Succot had requested permission more than a month ago to visit Palestinian villages and that his request was approved several days ago.

During the visit, which lasted about half an hour, Succot damaged the memorial, the newspaper reported.

The Israeli army claimed it had not been informed in advance that the lawmaker intended to destroy the monument.