One Palestinian killed and 25 injured in West Bank clash amid Israeli search for missing teen
Amid an Israeli search for a missing teenager, a Palestinian man has been killed and 25 others injured in clashes as dozens of Jewish settlers stormed a village in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli troops intervened as settlers armed with guns and stones entered al-Mughayyir village.
It remains unclear whether the deceased, 26-year-old Jehad Abu Alia, was shot by an armed settler or an Israeli soldier.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that at least eight people were hit by live fire.
Meanwhile, 14-year-old Benjamin Ahimeir, who went missing, has not yet been found, prompting a large-scale search effort.
Local media sources have indicated that the circumstances surrounding the teenager’s disappearance remain unclear, and the military has not confirmed if the incident is related to terrorism. Military personnel have established roadblocks in the vicinity.
According to Israeli media reports, Benjamin Achimeir left the “Gal Farm” in the Malachei Shalom settler outpost early on Friday and has not been seen since.
He was grazing sheep at the time, and the sheep returned to the farm without him, according to police. His sister Hannah, as quoted by AFP news agency, mentioned that he was familiar with the area.
In a separate incident, Israeli forces fatally shot two Palestinians in the West Bank.
One of them, identified by Hamas as a local commander of the group, was reportedly killed in a shoot-out with Israeli troops, according to the Israeli military.
Videos posted on X by the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din depict scenes of unrest in al-Mughayyir, with dark smoke rising from burning vehicles near an olive orchard and the sound of gunshots in the background. Social media images also show a group of masked settlers gathered in the area.
Afif Abu Alia, the father of Jehad Abu Alia, the 26-year-old who was fatally shot, spoke from a hospital in Ramallah, expressing sorrow over his son’s death. “My son went with others to defend our land and honor, and this is what happened,” he said.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claim that their troops, not settlers, fired at Palestinians who were throwing stones as “violent disturbances erupted at several points in the area.” The IDF reported that they successfully removed the settlers who had entered the village.
“The violent riots have been dispersed, and there are no Israeli civilians present within the town at this moment,” the IDF stated.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa has condemned the attack.
Foreign governments, including Israel’s closest ally, the US, have expressed concerns about the surge in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank since Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza began.
Israel has constructed approximately 160 settlements housing around 700,000 Jews since occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. While the vast majority of the international community considers these settlements illegal under international law, Israel and the US dispute this.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, at least 460 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since October 7th. Israeli sources report at least 13 Israelis killed by Palestinians in the same period.
The recent escalation of violence in the West Bank has led the US, UK, and France to impose sanctions on some settlers for the first time.
However, the casualties in the West Bank are overshadowed by the death toll in the Gaza war, with over 33,600 Gazans, mostly civilians, killed during Israel’s campaign, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
On October 7th, gunmen also took more than 250 people hostage. Israel reports that at least 34 hostages are confirmed dead out of the 130 still held in Gaza.
This latest violence occurs as Israel remains on high alert following US warnings of a potential Iranian strike against Israel. Iran has vowed retaliation for a deadly airstrike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria, in which several senior Iranian military figures were killed. While Israel has not officially commented, it is widely believed to have carried out the attack targeting the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.