Fadi Hamdallah al-Nassan, a 17-year-old Palestinian footballer and member of his country's national youth team, has died from a gunshot wound sustained when Israeli settlers attacked his village in the occupied West Bank. Al-Nassan was shot on July 11 during an assault on al-Mughayyir, a village northeast of Ramallah, the administrative capital of the Palestinian Authority. He was hit in the thigh by Israeli forces during the attack, his leg was subsequently amputated, and he succumbed to his injuries a week later on Saturday. Dozens of mourners dressed in black carried his body from the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah to al-Mughayyir for burial.
His father, Hamdallah al-Nassan, said his son had rushed toward the attack after hearing women and girls screaming. "He went to the scene of the attack and was killed," he said. His mother, Hanan al-Nassan, described him as a beloved figure in the village. "He was a good student, good in sports, and loved playing football. Everyone loved him." Al-Nassan played for the local Al-Mughayyir Club and had earned a place on the Palestinian national youth team. Palestinian health officials also reported that two other residents were struck by rubber bullets and a 10-year-old boy was hit on the head by a stun grenade during the same attack. The Israeli military did not respond to requests for comment.
Al-Nassan's death came on a day of widespread violence across the West Bank. Settlers and soldiers set fire to Palestinian property in two separate incidents — burning olive trees near Ramallah and destroying a family home in the town of Tal, near Nablus. In the village of Deir Qaddis, west of Ramallah, Israeli forces fired live rounds and tear gas at Palestinian farmers, sparking blazes through olive groves while civil defence crews were reportedly blocked from reaching the site. Israeli forces also conducted raids on homes in Yabad and Mithlon, near the northern city of Jenin.
The killing has drawn fresh attention to the broader context of settler violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The United Nations and human rights organisations have documented a sharp rise in settler attacks since October 2023, when the war in Gaza began. According to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry data, Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,088 Palestinians in the West Bank since that date. The Palestine Football Association said al-Nassan's death brought the number of people killed from the Palestinian sports community since October 2023 to 1,013, including 568 from football. Earlier this week, Israel's security cabinet approved $434 million to establish 34 new settlements in the West Bank — a move condemned by the United Nations and most countries as illegal under international law and an obstacle to peace. Settlement construction has accelerated significantly in recent years despite that near-universal international opposition.