The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli settlers shot dead a Palestinian man in the West Bank on Saturday, in the latest deadly attack on the occupied territory.
Ali Majed Hamadneh, 23, died after settlers opened fire during a raid on the village of Deir Jarir, northeast of Ramallah, the ministry said.
“He was brought to the Palestine Medical Complex in a critical condition” and later succumbed to his wounds, the ministry said on Telegram.
Palestinian official news agency Wafa also reported the incident.
“Armed colonists, under the protection of Israeli forces, attacked Deir Jarir from its western entrance and opened fire toward residents in the area,” Wafa reported.
There was no immediate response from the Israeli police or military.
Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has risen sharply since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.
There has also been a spike in deadly attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank since the start of the Iran war on February 28, Palestinian authorities and the United Nations have said.
Prior to Saturday’s attack, at least six Palestinians had been killed in settler attacks since the Iran war started, according to Palestinian health ministry figures.
Settler assaults on Palestinians have persisted for years, often to the indifference of mainstream Israeli society.
But the recent surge has prompted criticism from influential rabbis, settler leaders and even Israel’s military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, who called the attacks “morally and ethically unacceptable”.
Saturday’s violence comes after the Israeli government approved plans earlier this month for 34 new settlements in the West Bank, according to a rights group and Israeli media.
Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank in settlements that are illegal under international law, among some three million Palestinians.
Settlement expansion has been a policy under successive Israeli governments since 1967.
But it has accelerated significantly under the current coalition government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which contains far-right ministers and is widely regarded as one of the most right-wing in Israel’s history.
