Key facts
- Israeli forces shot and wounded a Palestinian man in the neck near Nablus.
- At least 10 Palestinians, including children, were injured during settler raids accompanied by Israeli forces.
- Settlers set fire to agricultural land in Burin and obstructed emergency services.
- Israeli forces arrested at least three Palestinians in the village of Tal.
- Settlers were observed stealing from Palestinian buildings while Israeli soldiers were present but did not intervene.
Israeli forces shot and wounded at least one Palestinian and arrested at least three in the West Bank village of Tal on Friday, closing entrances as over 100 Israeli settlers marched towards the area. Residents reported that some settlers stole goods from Palestinian buildings while Israeli soldiers were present and did not intervene. The incident follows a settler attack last weekend that resulted in the deaths of four Palestinians and two Israelis. Palestinian villagers assert they were defending themselves against settler violence aimed at displacing them, part of a three-year surge in violence in the West Bank.
Since the previous Friday, the Israeli military has conducted near-daily raids and arrests in Tal, a village near Nablus where most countries consider Israeli settlements illegal. Munther Shtayya, vice-president of Tal's local council, stated that at least 24 residents remain in Israeli custody, and he believes they were arrested as a form of collective punishment. Abdulrahman Zaidan, a Tal resident, described how the army uses tear gas and live ammunition to intimidate Palestinians and force them away from their homes.
Following the recent attack, settler-run social media channels called for revenge, and Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed to expand military operations. A Reuters correspondent observed settlers stealing from a Palestinian building while soldiers were present, and later visited a cemetery with broken headstones that residents attributed to settlers vandalizing it with soldiers nearby. Soldiers also blocked roads to facilitate the settlers' march. The military stated it was present to disperse settlers and had received reports of cemetery vandalism, but denied allegations of assisting settler violence.
Palestinians seek the West Bank, occupied by Israel in 1967, for a future independent state, while Netanyahu's government opposes this and has accelerated settlement expansion. Israel disputes the legal definition of the West Bank as occupied territory.