RAMALLAH: The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli settlers shot dead a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the third victim of deadly gunfire in two days. The ministry said 25-year-old Awda Atef Awawdeh was killed by settler gunfire in the central West Bank town of Deir Dibwan, just east of Ramallah. The Palestinian Red Crescent earlier reported that an individual was being transported to hospital after being &quot;wounded by live gunfire in the back during an attack by settlers&quot; in Deir Dibwan. In a post on X, the Palestinian Authority&#39;s government media office reported that Israeli forces had detained Palestinian residents of Deir Dibwan, sharing footage appearing to show dozens of men walking in a line along a road. When asked by AFP about the incident, the Israeli military &mdash; which has occupied the West Bank since 1967 &mdash; said it received a &quot;report of Israeli civilians who had entered the area&quot; without prior army authorization. Troops &quot;acted to prevent confrontation, ... transferred (the Israeli civilians) to the police,&quot; and &quot;detained (Palestinian) suspects involved in stone-throwing toward the Israeli civilians, who were later released,&quot; the military said. It added that it later received a report &quot;regarding a Palestinian who was killed by gunfire,&quot; and that an investigation was opened by the police. The PA said Israeli settler gunfire on Tuesday killed 14-year-old Aws Hamdi al-Naasan and Jihad Marzouq Abu Naim, 32, in the village of Al-Mughayyir, also in the central West Bank. They were among the latest victims of surging violence involving Israeli settlers, which has spiked across the West Bank since the start of the Middle East war on February 28. The Israeli military said on Tuesday it was examining the incident in Al-Mughayyir. It said soldiers were dispatched to the area &quot;following a report of rock hurling towards an Israeli vehicle carrying several civilians, including a reserve soldier, who exited the vehicle and opened fire at suspects in the area.&quot; It said troops arrived at the scene and &quot;acted to disperse the violent confrontation,&quot; without providing further details. According to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,065 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. Official Israeli figures say at least 46 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the same period.

Middle East

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,065 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023; Palestinian ministry says 25-year-old was killed by settler gunfire in the central West Bank town of Deir Dibwan, just east of Ramallah.

Israeli settler gunfire kills man in West Bank: Palestinian health ministry

RAMALLAH: Illegal Israeli settlers descended on Palestinian olive harvesters and activists this week in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, beating them with clubs in an attack Palestinian health officials said sent at least one woman to the hospital with serious injuries. The attack Sunday in the town of Turmus Ayya, which was captured in videos obtained by The Associated Press, came as Palestinians say settler violence in the region is worsening. The United Nations and rights groups have raised the alarm as harvest season begins and Palestinian farmers are at growing risk while gathering olives.&nbsp;Settler violence skyrockets&nbsp;&ldquo;Settler violence has skyrocketed in scale and frequency,&quot; Ajith Sunghay, the head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territory, said in a statement released Tuesday. &ldquo;Two weeks into the start of the 2025 harvest, we have already seen severe attacks by armed settlers against Palestinian men, women, children, and foreign solidarity activists.&quot; In one of the videos obtained by the AP, a masked man was seen running through an olive grove and beating at least two people with a club, including a woman as she lay motionless on the ground. The masked man appeared to be wearing tzitzit, a ritual fringed garment for Jews.&nbsp;The woman was hospitalized with serious injuries, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry said. Torched carsIn a separate video, more than a dozen masked men were seen running down a village road alongside an olive grove, pursuing a car. One settler clubbed the car and opened the door. A passenger managed to escape and run away with the group of men running after him. A third video showed flames and smoke rising from several torched cars. Israel&rsquo;s Channel 12 reported that the head of the West Bank police force said in an internal police WhatsApp group that the footage of the masked settler beating the woman &ldquo;kept him up at night&rdquo; and instructed officers to bring the settler to justice. Israel&#39;s military and police did not respond to an AP request for comment on the attack.&nbsp;Palestinian American population&nbsp;Turmus Ayya, whose population is predominantly Palestinian American, has long been a target of settler attacks, but villagers say the violence worsened during the Israel-Hamas war. It is nestled in a valley surrounded by hilltops crowned with Israeli settlements and outposts. Since the killing of a 14-year-old Palestinian-American, Amer Rabee, by Israeli forces in the town in April, protests against settler violence and the military&#39;s perceived failure to curb it have provoked regular clashes with settlers. More broadly, settler violence is surging across the West Bank.&nbsp;Over 750 settler attacks&nbsp;The UN says the first half of 2025 has seen 757 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage &mdash; a 13% increase compared with the same period last year. The first week of olive harvest season has seen more than 150 settler attacks and over 700 olive trees uprooted, broken, or poisoned, according to Muayyad Shaaban, who heads an office in the Palestinian Authority that is tracking the violence. Israel captured the West Bank, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast War. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state. Settler advocates hold key Israeli Cabinet positions that grant them and the settlers an essential say over the West Bank.

UN says first half of 2025 has seen 757 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage; settler advocates hold key Israeli Cabinet positions that grant them and the settlers an important say over the West Bank. 

Articles tagged with "Settler violence"

Israeli settler gunfire kills man in West Bank: Palestinian health ministry

Illegal Israeli settlers beat Palestinian farmers on video as attacks mount