Three Palestinians have been shot dead after dozens of Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian authorities say.
Video footage from Kafr Malik, near Ramallah, on Wednesday night showed a car and a home on fire and Palestinians running away as gunfire is heard.
The Israeli military said forces deployed to the scene found settlers and villagers throwing stones at each other. It added that several “terrorists” opened fire and threw stones at the forces, who returned fire and identified hits. They also arrested five Israelis.
The Palestinian foreign ministry said settlers fired at villagers in their homes during what it called their “terrorist assault”.
The ministry also said Israeli forces prevented ambulance crews from reaching the wounded and obstructed fire crews from entering the village for several hours.
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem – land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state – in the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.
The vast majority of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law – a position supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last year – although Israel disputes this.
Shortly after the incident in Kafr Malik, there was another attack in the Palestinian community of Dar Fazaa, near the village of Taybeh.
Israeli human rights group BTselem said three people were injured and three cars were torched. It posted CCTV footage showing a group of at least 10 masked men setting one car on fire and throwing stones.
“The settler violence and rampage, under the protection of the occupation army, is a political decision by the Israeli government, implemented by the settlers,” Palestinian Vice-President Hussein al-Sheikh wrote on X.
“The Israeli government’s behaviour and decisions are pushing the region toward an explosion. We call on the international community to urgently intervene to protect our Palestinian people.”
There has been a sharp increase in the number and severity of settler attacks in the West Bank since Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.
The UN has recorded 487 attacks by settlers resulting in casualties or property damage in the first four months of this year, including 122 in April. At least 181 Palestinians were reportedly injured by settlers in the attacks.
Human rights organisations and witnesses say the Israeli military and police frequently stand by while settlers attack Palestinian towns and villages.
Settlement expansion has also risen sharply, since a right-wing, pro-settler governing coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in late 2022.
It has so far decided to establish 49 new settlements and begin the legalisation process for seven settler outposts which were built without government authorisation, according to the Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now.
Last month, Israeli ministers said 22 new settlements had been approved across the length and width of the West Bank, hailing it as a move that “prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel”.
In a separate incident on Wednesday, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the town of al-Yamoun, near Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The Israeli military said “terrorists” threw explosive devices at its forces during an operation in al-Yamoun. Afterwards, they approached while holding additional explosives and the forces responded by opening fire, it added.
The UN says at least 949 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank since 7 October 2023, as Israeli forces have intensified their raids across the territory, saying they are trying to stem deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
In January, Israeli forces launched a large-scale operation against Palestinian armed groups in the northern West Bank.
The UN’s human rights chief said in April that the operation had destroyed entire refugee camps and makeshift medical sites, and displaced more than 40,000 Palestinians, who had been told not to return to their homes for a year.