Tal West Bank killings leave four Palestinians and one Israeli dead
Palestinian officials said Israeli settlers and troops killed four people in Tal; Israeli officials reported one settler killed nearby.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
The Tal West Bank killings on Friday left four Palestinians dead and four others wounded southwest of Nablus, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israeli health officials separately said one Israeli settler was killed and others were hurt in the same area, underscoring a deadly escalation around the town.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said three of the wounded Palestinians were in critical condition after an attack on Tal by Israeli forces and settlers. The town lies near the Havat Gilad settlement in the occupied West Bank.
Local and Palestinian security sources said Israeli settlers entered Tal earlier Friday and opened live fire before clashes began, Al Jazeera reported. They said Palestinians had gone out to defend their homes.
What happened in Tal in the West Bank?
Essam Saifi, a local Fatah leader from Tal, told Reuters by phone that about 25 to 30 Israeli settlers first moved into the eastern side of the town and tried to enter two homes. He said residents confronted them, and the settlers then fired at them.
Saifi said the attackers returned about 30 minutes later on the town’s western side, where a child was struck with a weapon. He said the Israeli military then arrived and began shooting along with the settlers.
The Israeli army gave a different account. It said troops were sent to the area near Havat Gilad after what it described as an attack on Israelis hiking nearby, and claimed a Palestinian had taken a weapon from local security personnel and fired at Israeli settlers.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said one Israeli was killed and two wounded people were flown out by helicopter. Israeli health officials also reported injuries among settlers in the area.
Al Jazeera correspondent Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Nablus, said settlers had entered Tal under the stated reason that they were hiking nearby. She said such incidents often involve armed settlers provoking Palestinians and trying to seize land, including by putting up temporary structures that can later become settlements.
After the violence, Israeli forces placed a security cordon around Nablus and Tal, according to Al Jazeera. Ibrahim reported that checkpoints leading to Tal had been closed, limiting movement after the attack.
How have officials responded?
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the four deaths in Tal raised the number of Palestinians killed by Israelis in the West Bank since the start of the year to 86. It said 21 of those were shot by settlers.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the deaths in a post on X, calling the killings a massacre and linking them to what it described as the ongoing Nakba faced by Palestinians. The ministry also accused Israeli authorities, forces and settler groups of coordinated escalation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would convene an emergency meeting after the Israeli death near Tal and promised a firm response. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on the army to use an “iron fist” against the Palestinian town and surrounding area, according to his post on X.
Smotrich also praised settlement farm residents and what he called settlement pioneers, saying Israel would continue to strengthen and honor them. The remarks came as Palestinian officials accused settlers and Israeli forces of responsibility for the Palestinian deaths in Tal.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.