Four Palestinians and Two Israeli Soldiers Killed in West Bank Violence

Violence

Saturday, July 25, 2026, at 7:08 am

Israel sent more troops to the West Bank after violence increased.

In short:

Two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinian villagers were killed in the West Bank.

Palestinians in the West Bank face a lot of violence as Israel's government builds more settlements.

What's next?

The Israeli military is preparing for a big operation in the West Bank.

Violence increased in the West Bank, leaving two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinian villagers dead.

Palestinians face violence as Israel's government, led by settler leaders, builds more settlements.

The international community thinks Israeli settlements are illegal and hurt peace.

Violence escalates

Israeli soldiers killed four Palestinians in the village of Tell, and two Israeli soldiers were also killed.

Two other Israelis and four more Palestinians were hurt, and the Israeli military is preparing for a big operation.

A Palestinian father wants justice for his seven-month-old son, who was shot dead by an Israeli soldier.

The Israeli military is looking for Palestinians who attacked Israelis and caught two during a raid in Nablus.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz want more troops in the West Bank and to punish the villagers of Tell.

The security forces must be allowed to act freely and with full force against terrorism.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the villages of Tell, Iraq Burin, and Beit Furik should be destroyed like refugee camps.

It is necessary to evacuate the population for their protection and to clear these villages of terrorist infrastructure.

Human rights group B'Tselem warned that violence could get out of control as Israeli settlers and soldiers gather near Palestinian cities.

Israeli violence is spreading across the West Bank, fueled by politicians calling for revenge.

We know where this leads. Millions of Palestinians are now completely exposed to further attacks, with no one protecting them.

Clashes have been happening more often near the West Bank city of Nablus.

Unclear circumstances

The exact circumstances of Friday's incident are not clear, but Israeli media reports say a group of Israeli settlers entered Tell and were confronted by residents.

The village is off-limits to Israelis as part of Area B under the 1993 Oslo Accords.

According to the Israeli military, one of the villagers took a settler's weapon and fired on the group, killing a security guard.

A UN report finds that Palestinians are being subjected to mass atrocities by Israeli forces.

In a video, two armed men in civilian clothing and an Israeli soldier are shown pointing their weapons at a group of Palestinians.

At one point, the two armed men rushed towards several Palestinian residents with their guns drawn.

The residents try to push them back and appear to disarm one of the men before opening fire.

The Israeli military said it killed the man who took the settler's weapon and that he was armed when soldiers shot him.

But a separate video shows Israeli forces firing on a group of Palestinians in the same field who were already on the ground.

More than a dozen gunshots can be heard in the footage, which is less than a minute long.

The Israeli military said the suspect was one of the people killed in the field.

Palestinians argue that archaeology is used to justify settlement and the displacement of Palestinians.

It did not respond to questions about why soldiers killed the other men or how long after the original altercation the killings took place.

Later, Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir said he was sending more troops to the occupied West Bank.

Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, demanded the government crack down hard on Palestinians.

We demand an iron fist and for the government to carry out a wide military operation against the Palestinian Authority and against Hamas.

Confrontation more frequent

Five Palestinian villages surrounding Nablus were attacked by Israeli settlers on Friday.

The towns and villages surrounding Nablus sit in one of the most violent parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

In addition to newly approved settlements, at least nine farming outposts dot the area, and attacks by Israeli settlers, army incursions, and confrontations have become frequent.

The two former world leaders are demanding the international community put more pressure on Israel to change course.

Palestinians and human rights groups have increasingly documented armed settlers entering villages in the area.

Livestock theft, arson, and the defacement of mosques are routinely reported.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 87 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank governorates, including 21 by Israeli settlers.

Israeli deaths have repeatedly been followed by revenge against nearby Palestinian communities called price tag attacks.

That pattern followed the March 21 death of 18-year-old Yehuda Sherman, who was killed when a Palestinian vehicle struck his ATV near Beit Imrin.

At the time, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented 32 settler attacks affecting 30 Palestinian villages and communities across the West Bank.

Settlers torched homes and vehicles, vandalized property, and assaulted residents, injuring at least 32 Palestinians.

More than 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians for an independent state.

See more ABC coverage in your search results

Practice Listening

Practice Listening