Israeli military kills 4 Palestinians after settler killed in West Bank

West Bank: The Israeli military shot and killed four Palestinians in the village of Tell in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Friday, raising tensions in the occupied territory after an Israeli settler was killed in a confrontation with local residents.

Two other Israelis and four more Palestinians were wounded, health officials said, and the Israeli military announced it was preparing for an "extensive" counterterror operation in the West Bank, with troops surrounding the town of Nablus.

"The security forces must be allowed to act freely and with full force against terrorism," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a joint statement with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz. They called Friday for more troops to the West Bank and the razing of the homes of the accused in Tell as well as collecting weapons and revoking work permits in the village.


Also read: Israel launches military operation after deadly clash near Palestinian village


Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich went farther, saying that the villages of Tell, Iraq Burin and Beit Furik "need to look exactly like the refugee camps in Nablus and Tulkarm," referring to the mass demolition campaign that displaced tens of thousands in the West Bank towns last year.

"It is necessary to evacuate the population there for their protection and to clear these villages of terrorist infrastructure," Smotrich said. "A sharp, determined, and unequivocal military action is required here and now."

Villages long-targeted by settlers in the northern West Bank

Five Palestinian villages surrounding Nablus were attacked by Israeli settlers on Friday, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

The towns and villages surrounding Nablus sit in one of the most violent parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. In addition to newly approved settlements, at least nine farming outposts dot the area and attacks by Israeli settlers, army incursions and confrontations have become frequent.

Palestinians and human rights groups have increasingly documented armed settlers entering villages in the area. Livestock theft, arson and the defacement of mosques are routinely reported.

Israeli deaths have repeatedly been followed by revenge against nearby Palestinian communities called "price tag" attacks. That pattern followed the March 21 death of 18-year-old Yehuda Sherman, who was killed when a Palestinian vehicle struck his ATV near Beit Imrin. Senior politicians, including Smotrich, attended Sherman's funeral and called for vengeance.

Over the next two days, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented 32 settler attacks affecting 30 Palestinian villages and communities across the West Bank, about a third near Nablus governorate. Settlers torched homes and vehicles, vandalized property and assaulted residents, injuring at least 32 Palestinians, according to OCHA.

An unclear confrontation at the center of the tension

The exact circumstances of Friday's incident remained unclear, but Israeli media reports and interviews with local Palestinian officials suggested a group of settlers entered Tell and were confronted by residents who were fearful of an attack.

According to the Israeli military, one of the residents took one of the settlers' weapons and fired on the group, killing Benayahu Mellet, 32, a security guard in a settlement nearby.

In a video of the incident, confirmed by the Israeli military and circulated online by the military correspondent for Israel's Army Radio, two armed men in civilian clothing, as well as at least one Israeli soldier, are shown pointing their weapons at a group of Palestinians who had gathered in a field.

At one point, the two armed men rush toward several Palestinian residents with their guns drawn. In the footage, the residents try to push them back and appear to disarm one of the men before opening fire.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it killed the man who took the settler's weapon and that he was armed when soldiers shot him. But a separate video, published by Israeli media outlets and confirmed by the military, showed Israeli forces firing on a group of Palestinians in the same field who were already on the ground.

More than a dozen gunshots can be heard in the footage, which is less than a minute long. The military said the suspect was one of the people killed in the field. It did not respond to questions about why soldiers killed the other men - all of whom were related - or how long after the original altercation the killings took place.

Later, army chief Eyal Zamir said he was sending more troops to the occupied West Bank.