Four Killed as Armed Settlers Rampage Through West Bank Town
Footage from Tal shows settlers and soldiers opening fire on residents — while the Israeli military's own account concedes the raiders entered areas barred to them
At least four Palestinians have been killed and several others wounded after Israeli settlers, backed by Israeli forces, carried out a series of violent attacks on the occupied West Bank town of Tal, southwest of Nablus.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said four others were injured, three of them critically. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the killings as a “massacre,” saying Israeli authorities and settlers had acted in coordination.
Residents said settlers from the nearby settlement of Havat Gilad entered Tal on Friday and opened fire as Palestinians confronted them. Essam Saifi, a local Fatah official, said dozens of settlers first entered the eastern part of the town and tried to break into two houses; when residents confronted them, the settlers opened fire. About thirty minutes later, he said, they returned and attacked the western side of the town, where a child was struck with a weapon — after which Israeli soldiers arrived and opened fire alongside them. Israeli forces subsequently sealed off the area around Nablus and Tal.
What the footage shows
Video circulating from the town appears to capture the events leading up to the killings. It shows groups of heavily armed settlers, some carrying assault rifles and accompanied by Israeli occupation forces, advancing toward Palestinian land and homes. Settlers can be seen attacking unarmed residents, including children, and beating them, before gunfire breaks out and Palestinians are seen falling to the ground. According to accounts of the footage, one Palestinian managed to seize a rifle as he was being assaulted. Some of those present can be heard shouting and cheering as the shooting unfolds.
In the confrontation, Israeli sources said one Israeli was killed and others wounded. Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said one person was killed and two others evacuated by helicopter; Israeli outlets reported the casualties included a military officer and a settlement security official. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would convene an emergency meeting, while far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the military to respond to the town and surrounding area with an “iron fist.”
The military’s own account
An Israeli military review of the incident conceded that the settlers had entered restricted areas without coordinating with the army beforehand. Describing the episode as a “hike,” the military said dozens of Israelis, including children, had entered parts of Areas A and B of the West Bank — zones generally off-limits to settlers — reaching the southern outskirts of Tal near a mosque, where a violent confrontation broke out.
A military official claimed armed settlers had “fired shots into the air.” The circulated footage, however, shows settlers and soldiers firing on Palestinians. The review noted that the security coordinator from Havat Gilad arrived at the scene with another member of the settlement’s “defence squad,” as did an army company commander and platoon commander.
Despite acknowledging that armed settlers had raided the area unauthorised, the military cancelled weekend leave for West Bank troops and said it was preparing an “extensive counterterrorism operation,” while claiming it was also working to prevent settler revenge attacks amid what it called an atmosphere of vengeance.
Not an isolated attack
Tal has faced repeated settler raids. In one recent attack, settlers surrounded a house in the village and threw flaming objects inside, setting it ablaze; residents spent hours containing a fire that destroyed surrounding grassland and left the house gutted. Al Mayadeen’s correspondent reported that several people were also injured in settler attacks on the nearby villages of Far’ata, Imatin, Jit, and Iraq Burin.
The Health Ministry said Friday’s deaths brought the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank since the start of the year to 86, including 21 killed by settlers. A report published on 6 July by the Palestinian Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission recorded 3,488 settler attacks in the first half of the year — raids on villages, arson, shootings, land seizures, and the establishment of outposts — which killed 17 Palestinians.
Around 750,000 settlers now live in 141 unauthorised settlements and 224 outposts across the occupied West Bank, including some 250,000 in occupied East al-Quds. Since October 2023, official Palestinian figures record 1,200 Palestinians killed, nearly 13,000 injured, and roughly 24,000 detained in the territory.
Reference: PressTv & Al-Mayadeen