Settler Attack Kills 6 in West Bank; Rights Group Warns of Atrocities

(BEIRUT) – A coordinated attack by Israeli settlers on the Palestinian village of Tal near Nablus on July 24 killed four Palestinians and two Israelis, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday. The incident has sparked a wave of settler reprisals and a major Israeli military operation, prompting warnings of further atrocities. Witnesses told HRW that between 40 and 50 settlers, including children, entered Tal twice within an hour on the morning of July 24. They attacked homes with stones and tried to break in. During a confrontation, an armed settler shot and wounded a Palestinian man. When more Palestinians arrived, the settlers fled. About 30 minutes later, the same group returned, joined by Israeli soldiers. Witness Mujahid Waleed said the army stood by as settlers attacked Palestinians. “The army only intervened once a Palestinian man disarmed a settler and started shooting,” Waleed said. “The army fired back and killed point-blank the [Palestinian] carrying the weapon, and settlers and soldiers shot the other three unarmed Palestinians.” The Israeli military stated it responded to an attack on Israeli hikers. It confirmed the deaths of Benyahu Mellet, 32, and Maj. Yuval Ezra, 27, an active-duty soldier. The military said its troops killed the Palestinian gunman but did not explain the deaths of the other three Palestinians. The four Palestinians killed were two brothers and two cousins from the Ramadan family. The attack occurred in Area B, a zone under joint Israeli-Palestinian security control. HRW said the incident is part of a sharp rise in settler violence since the current Israeli government took office in December 2022. The United Nations reports that 68 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in 2026, at least 13 by settlers. In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a “major counterterrorism operation” and the redeployment of five military battalions to the West Bank. He also said he would accelerate the legalization of illegal settler outposts. Israeli officials have called for the destruction of Palestinian homes. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Palestinian villages “should look like the refugee camps in Nablus and Tulkarem,” which HRW previously said were destroyed in acts amounting to war crimes and ethnic cleansing. “The Israeli government didn’t prevent the settler attacks on Tal village, so now it needs to stop settler reprisals and escalating military action that will make a bad situation worse,” said Sarah Sanbar, acting Israel and Palestine researcher at HRW. “Years of lawlessness and impunity for attacks has turned the West Bank into a powder keg waiting to explode.” HRW called on governments to impose targeted sanctions on those responsible, suspend arms transfers to Israel, and support International Criminal Court investigations. “Governments need to act urgently so that the Israeli government does not continue to act as if it has a green light to commit further atrocities,” Sanbar said.