A deadly clash in the occupied West Bank has prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order the creation of new settler outposts, a move he framed as part of a tougher response after violence left four Palestinians and two Israelis dead.
The confrontation unfolded near the settlement of Havat Gilad and the neighbouring Palestinian village of Tell, in territory Israel occupied in 1967.
Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, which has a Palestinian population of around three million.
Tensions across the West Bank have intensified since the Gaza war began with Hamas’s 7 October, 2023 attack on Israel.
Mr Netanyahu said he would “act with full force against the terrorists and those who orchestrate and sponsor them”.
He set out a series of measures, including raids in Palestinian villages suspected of sheltering militants and “accelerating the legalisation of farm outposts and establishment of new ones” in the West Bank.
All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, while outposts are small settlements usually built without government approval and therefore illegal under Israeli law.
Typically perched on hilltops, they often begin as a handful of mobile homes erected overnight by small groups of settlers, with the aim of later gaining recognition as an authorised settlement.
Israeli soldiers use tear gas to disperse Palestinians who gathered as fire blazed near the Israeli settlement of Havat Gilad, west of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, last weekend
Havat Gilad was the target of attacks last weekend.
Walid Zidan, head of the Tell village council, said today’s violence started when roughly 20 settlers entered the village.
“Villagers came out to defend their homes and property. Clashes and physical altercations broke out between the residents and the settlers,” Mr Zidan told AFP.
He said Israeli soldiers were on the scene and, alongside settlers, began firing. “It was the settlers who stormed the village, with the intention of killing, vandalising and setting property on fire.”
Arrests
The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry said four Palestinians were killed and four others wounded.
In Nablus, an AFP journalist reported scenes of grief as relatives gathered at two hospitals where the bodies of those killed were taken.
Not long after, Israeli forces arrived at one hospital and removed a man injured in the clash, along with his brother.
The AFP journalist at the scene saw troops leading at least one handcuffed man away from the hospital.
The Israeli military said soldiers arrested two men from the Nablus hospital who it said took part in the clashes.
It described Friday’s incident in Tell as a violent confrontation between dozens of Palestinians and Israeli civilians.
Palestinian security personnel arrive at the site of clashes on the outskirts of Tell in the occupied West Bank today
A military official said an emergency response security team from Havat Gilad, along with soldiers, was called to the area.
“During the confrontation, shots were fired on both sides and a weapon belonging to a member of the emergency response security team was stolen by a Palestinian terrorist,” the official said.
“One member of the security team was killed during the incident and additional security members were injured,” he added.
The official said the fighting in Tell later subsided.
‘Extensive’ operation
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said a man in his thirties was pronounced dead near Havat Gilad.
Two others, both in their twenties, were flown by helicopter to hospital with gunshot wounds, one in serious condition.
The military later said a second Israeli fatality—an officer—had also been killed.
AFP journalists said they could not reach the area of the violence because Israeli forces had set up roadblocks throughout the region.
The Israeli military said it was preparing an “extensive counterterrorism operational activity” in the West Bank and that it had postponed soldiers’ leave in the territory.
“We are pursuing every terrorist involved in the attack,” military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said during a visit to Tell, according to a statement.
Palestinians also reported additional settler-related violence in the northern West Bank.
Abdel Moneim Shanneh, head of the local council in Farata—also near Havat Gilad—said settlers attacked the village.
“The settlers set fire to the olive groves… The army prevented young men from the village from extinguishing fires and opened fire on them,” he said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams transported eight people injured in that attack, including six with live bullet wounds.
The Palestinian Red Crescent also reported that two men were injured during another settler attack in the village of Sarra, near Nablus.
Israeli figures show that at least 48 Israelis, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations since the start of the Gaza war.
According to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian health ministry, Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,094 Palestinians, including both militants and civilians, over the same period.
