Four Palestinians and two Israelis killed in West Bank shooting

The Palestinian foreign ministry said it “condemns in the strongest terms the massacre” in Tal.

It said “the escalation of settler terrorism is a direct consequence of the protection, political backing, and complete impunity granted by the Israeli government and occupation forces”.

“Official Israeli incitement continues to fuel and encourage these crimes, creating an environment in which settler violence flourishes without accountability,” it added.

An AFP reporter at the site, south-west of Nablus, said roadblocks had been set up and troops were searching for additional suspects.

The IDF later said it raided a hospital in Nablus and “apprehended two terrorists who took part in the shooting attack” and who had gone to the hospital for treatment.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to act “with full force against the terrorists and those who orchestrate and sponsor them”.

He called an emergency meeting with security officials, and reinforcements have been sent to the area, close to the settlement of Havat Gilad.

Netanyahu’s office issued a joint statement with Defence Minister Israel Katz saying the home of the Palestinian shooter in Tal would be demolished and that the legalisation of unauthorised settler outposts and the establishment of new ones would be speeded up.

Outposts are wildcat settlements, often just a cluster of caravans set up on a hilltop. They are illegal under international law and also Israeli law when they are built without official approval.

On X, Yair Golan, the leader of Israel’s Democrats Party – who is a reserve major general in the IDF – described the joint statement from Netanyahu and Katz as “a clear intent to set the area ablaze”.

After the attack in Tal, there have been reports of violent confrontations between dozens of armed settlers and Palestinians in other nearby villages in the northern West Bank. A number of Palestinians have been wounded with one shot in the head in Farata, local medics say.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the villages of “the murderers” must be treated in the same way as Gaza.

“For every Jew murdered, the enemy must suffer the loss of land and homes,” he said.

While Palestinians are routinely killed and injured during confrontations with Israeli settlers, the killing of Israelis by Palestinians has tipped the West Bank into a dangerous moment.

Since October 2023, 1,114 Palestinians have been killed there, the vast majority by the IDF, the UN says. It says at least 35 of the deaths have involved attacks by settlers.

The UN says 41 Israelis, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war.

Israel has built hundreds settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem – land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state – during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them. The settlements are illegal under international law.