A violent confrontation in the town of Tell, located southwest of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, has resulted in the deaths of four Palestinians on Friday. According to a statement issued by the Palestinian health ministry, the incident also left four others injured, with three of those individuals reported to be in critical condition. Local and security sources indicated that illegal Israeli settlers initiated the violence by attacking Palestinian homes and discharging live fire toward two houses in the town.
Simultaneously, the Israeli military reported that an illegal Israeli settler was killed and three others were injured during a separate shooting incident near Nablus on the same day. Following reports of an attack on Israelis hiking in the vicinity, the Israeli army stated it dispatched troops to the area near the illegal Havat Gilad settlement and subsequently placed both Nablus and the town of Tell under siege. The military alleged that Palestinians had seized a security officer’s weapon before opening fire on Israelis near the settlement.
The Palestinian foreign ministry has strongly condemned the killings, labeling the event a massacre and a terrorist crime carried out by occupier militias in coordination with Israeli occupation forces. The ministry asserted that the violence demonstrates a clear integration of roles between the forces and illegal settlers, while calling upon the international community to implement immediate, practical measures to stop these attacks and ensure international protection for the Palestinian population.
Official figures from the Palestinian health ministry indicate that this latest violence brings the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2026 to 86, a figure that includes 65 deaths at the hands of Israeli forces and 21 caused by illegal settlers. Since the onset of the conflict in Gaza on October 7, 2023, regional violence has intensified, with official reports stating that at least 1,185 people have been killed and 3,816 others injured across the occupied West Bank.
