Three Palestinians killed in West Bank clashes as Jerusalem site raided
Violence escalates in the occupied territories with multiple fatalities in Nablus and a high-profile far-right raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem.
Israeli forces have shot dead two Palestinian men in the occupied West Bank after they attempted to extinguish fires on farmland allegedly started by Israeli settlers, according to local reports. The incident occurred in Beit Furik, east of Nablus, where Palestinian officials told Wafa news agency that soldiers opened fire on residents, injuring four others. Two of those injured later died from their wounds, and Israel has withheld their bodies.
Yousef Hanani, the mayor of Beit Furik, stated that residents were attacked by Israeli soldiers and settlers while trying to put out flames in surrounding agricultural fields. The mayor confirmed that Israeli forces sealed all entrances to the town, trapping dozens of Palestinians inside. Hanani reported that one family was forced to evacuate their home after the homeowner was assaulted by soldiers.
Conflicting accounts have emerged regarding the sequence of events. The Israeli military claimed that a group of Palestinians set fire to the farmland and attacked settlers from the Derech Avraham outpost, located near the illegal Elon Moreh settlement. Local security and political sources insisted the Palestinians were responding to fires started by settlers. During the clash, an Israeli man was stabbed and airlifted to hospital, according to the Israeli military report.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society treated two men, aged 40 and 43, for gunshot wounds to the abdomen and transferred them to hospital, though it did not confirm if these were the same men who subsequently died. The fires also damaged electricity poles, and settlers torched two vehicles belonging to local Palestinian residents.
A third Palestinian man was shot dead later in the day near the illegal Israeli settlement of Ganim. The Israeli military claimed the man stabbed a soldier in the leg before being killed. These events coincide with a separate escalation in East Jerusalem, where thousands of settlers and far-right Israelis, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. The group performed Jewish rituals at the site, which is the third holiest place in Islam, an action viewed as highly inflammatory. Violence in the occupied West Bank has escalated significantly since the conflict in Gaza began, characterised by frequent military raids and increased settler activity.
