Four Palestinians killed as Israeli settlers raid occupied West Bank town

What the report says

Al Jazeera, citing Palestinian health officials and Reuters, reported that four Palestinians were killed Friday in Tal, a town southwest of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, during an attack involving Israeli settlers and Israeli forces. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said four other Palestinians were wounded, including three in critical condition. Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom separately said one Israeli was killed in the area and two wounded people were airlifted for treatment.

Accounts of how the violence began differed sharply. Local Fatah figure Essam Saifi told Reuters that about 25 to 30 settlers entered the eastern part of Tal, tried to get into two homes and opened fire when residents confronted them. He said settlers later returned to another part of town and that Israeli troops arrived and fired alongside settlers. The Israeli military said soldiers were sent near the nearby Havat Gilad settlement after what it described as an attack on Israelis hiking, and alleged that a Palestinian took a weapon from local security personnel and fired at settlers.

Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim reported from Nablus that Israeli forces closed routes around Tal and Nablus after the incident. The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the killings, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would convene an emergency meeting after the Israeli fatality. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urged a forceful military response.

The incident comes amid rising settler violence and Israeli military operations in the West Bank. Al Jazeera reported, based on the Palestinian health ministry, that 86 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis across the West Bank since the start of the year, including 21 shot by settlers.