Deadly West Bank Shooting Kills Four Palestinians, Two Israelis

At least four Palestinians and two Israelis have been killed in a shooting in the occupied West Bank - the deadliest single incident there in months.

There are conflicting accounts of the sequence of events in the northern village of Tal. Palestinians told the BBC that residents confronted Jewish settlers who were attacking them. An eyewitness said soldiers then arrived and started shooting.

Israel's military said it had responded to reports that hikers had been attacked. It said "terrorists stole the weapon" of a security guard and killed him.

It later said a soldier had also been killed, but did not give details. The IDF has not explained who killed the other Palestinians.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it is preparing for a major operation in the area and has cancelled soldiers' leave.

There has been a surge in attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, which was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

Ahmed Zeidan, an eyewitness, told the BBC the latest incident began early in the morning, when locals in Tal rushed to confront about 30 settlers who were attacking Palestinian homes.

He said hand-to-hand clashes broke out in the presence of Israeli soldiers.

A local leader of the ruling Palestinian Authority's Fatah party, Essam Saifi, told Reuters news agency that settlers opened fire before Israeli forces arrived and also started shooting.

He said two brothers and two of their cousins were among those killed. Palestinian officials said several other Palestinians were wounded.

The IDF said Palestinians began the attack.

It said soldiers had gone to Tal following a report of an attack on Israeli civilians who were hiking in the area - part of which falls in an area of the West Bank under full control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the other part under PA administrative control and Israeli security control.

The military says that the hike was not co-ordinated with them.

A security guard from a nearby settler outpost had gone to the scene and had his gun snatched by a Palestinian who used it against the Israelis, killing him, the IDF says.

Soldiers then "eliminated the terrorist who executed the terror attack", the IDF added.

Two video clips have been widely shared by local media - but not independently verified.

One appears to show a confrontation between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers and armed Israelis dressed in civilian clothes as gunshots are fired and a group of Israeli civilians, including children, watch and heckle. Armed Israelis in civilian clothes then push and kick back two Palestinian men.

The second video shot from a different angle appears to show that both men tried to grab the guns - one of them successfully. There is a chaotic scene and several gunshots can be heard as he appears to fire it and troops also respond.

The IDF has said a 27-year-old soldier "fell during operational activity in the area of ​​the village". The circumstances of his death remain unclear.

The Israeli ambulance service said two Israelis were also wounded.

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.

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.