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Fragment of an ice meteorite

Eyewitnesses in the northern West Bank town of Deir Ballout, near Salfit, reported that a huge ice block landed in the area.

Witnesses reported that unusual crackling sounds could be heard in the area, which astonished the inhabitants of the village who were preparing for evening prayer.

An eyewitness, Raed Mustafa, told Ma'an "while we were preparing for evening prayer, a strange entity around 1 metre squared in size, fell from the heavens causing a sound like whistling. We discovered that it was an ice block weighing about 35kg."

The eyewitnesses said that the weather had been clear with no rain or wind when the ice block fell on Tuesday evening.

Mustafa said that they extracted pieces of the ice block for examination.

Reports were also affirmed by Iyas Qasim an editor at the Al Hayah Al Jadida newspaper and Jihad Mustafa an employee at the Palestinian ministry of archaeology and tourism.